Superman's Soul
by ladythik
Summary: Everyone who knew Clark Kent is now dead and the thought of living forever alone is breaking him. Jor-El offer send him back but only if Clark finally admits to himself that he needs Lex. Will he be able to start over and gain the love of his soul holder?
1. Chapter 1

**Summary:** Clark watches the last person who truly knew him, Lex Luthor, finally die. Alone and adrift immortality looms ahead of him and he wonders why he must go it alone. Jor-el says it is because he turned against his soul holder or soul mate as humans would say. Turns out Lex wasn't meant to be his enemy but his lover. Clark is given the chance to go back and try again from the very beginning. Can he change the way things happened, can he truly give himself to the one man who could easily break him or will old insecurities hold him locked into a future he doesn't truly want.

**Warnings:** Male/male slash, strong language, less restrained Clark, murder, and spoilers.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing but the plot, though I am sure someone has done something similar at least once before.

**CHAPTER ONE**

Superman knelt beside the fallen form of his oldest friend and greatest enemy. Even though it had been over a hundred years since they had first met Clark still didn't look a day over twenty-five and Lex, due to some unknown reason barely looked older than thirty. Everyone speculated that the Luthor used crazy experiments or cloning to keep himself young, but Lex had denied it for years and oddly enough Clark believed him.

What he couldn't believe was that Lex, the one person he had left alive who knew the true identity of Superman was dieing and there was no way to save him. It was Lex's own fault, the bald billionaire had come up with another crazy scheme to best Superman. He had managed to collect quite a bit of blood from Superman over the years during all of their battles and had saved most of it. Lex had found a way to give himself a blood transfusion and had become Kryptonian like Clark.

The only issue with that was all of the experiments Lex had done over the years with Kryptonite had infused him with quite a bit of poisonous meteor rock. To a human it was nothing but with his new blood and powers it was deadly and Lex lay dying now, mere hours after he had finished the procedure. Knowing he was dying the billionaire had called Clark and informed him he wanted to see him one last time and so Clark, as Superman had flown there immediately. He never could say no to Lex when he used that tone of voice. He had found the man in his bed and now he watched as the billionaire gathered enough strength to speak.

"I nev...never wanted this to happen Clark. I never wanted to be evil." he breathed out. If it wasn't for his heightened hearing Clark wouldn't have heard him.

"Then why Lex. You had so many opportunities to change and every time you chose to become more like your father." The disappointment in his voice was enough to make Lex flinch.

"Because, you always sided with everyone else over me Clark. It was always about you. I didn't want to fight with you and if you remember I didn't start becoming my father until you became yours. I didn't want to hurt you at first, I just wanted you around and then suddenly you were only around when I did something to make you pay attention. The easiest way to do that was for Superman to be needed and by then it was too late to change, you already hated me."

"Why did you have to drag others into it then, why Chloe and Lana, why my parents and Lois. Why couldn't you have just told me you wanted us to be best friends Lex. It was what I wanted, but you kept pushing at me, provoking me and lying to me. You investigated me behind my back and sicked your little lap dogs on me when if you had simply waited I would have eventually told you everything anyways."

Clark watched as a strange expression crossed Lex's face before the dying man seemed to find some courage in himself and drew himself up as much as his weak body was able.

"I didn't want you to be my best friend Clark, I wanted you to be mine. Didn't you ever wonder why none of my marriages lasted Clark."

Lex looked at him beseechingly as Clark tried to hide his shock. Always he had been drawn to Lex as more than friends but because of his upbringing he'd forced the thoughts away and did his best focus only on girls and later women. His marriage to Lois had eventually failed because even though he could bring himself to sleep with her he took no real pleasure in it, only finding release. He had known then and stopped fighting the fact that he was gay, even though he had never told anyone. Chloe had guessed before she died and Lois had as well. Honestly who else but a submissive gay man would willing have put up with her constant domineering attitude.

The fact that Lex had apparently wanted him since the beginning was both gratifying and shattering. Could things have been different if he had not fought it so hard. Could he have stopped Lex from turning into his enemy or at least from hating him so much. Of all his life his biggest regret was losing the Luthor as his friend and confidant.

"What are you saying Lex, that all this time you have fought me because you wanted me. Why the hell did you marry Lana then, or target people I was close too?"

"I married Lana because you wanted her and I couldn't let her have you. I knew she wasn't good and sweet, I could she the thirst for power. I thought if I could keep her from loving you then maybe one day you would come to see the truth and you would be able to love me in return. I knew if you ended up with her you would never let her go if for no other reason than to play at being normal even if it ruined you. I had to at least try."

Lex's voice was growing even weaker and at the end of his speech he broke down into a coughing fit and began coughing blood. Clark tried to help him stop but it was no use. Over the next hour he watched on as doctors tried everything they could to heal the Luthor or at least stop the seizures his body was forcing him through and Clark was forced to watch as finally Lex succumbed to his injuries.

He couldn't stand it and even though several news papers and news shows admitted their relief at the loss of Supermans greatest enemy over the next few days he was the last one at the graveside of Lex, thinking over what might have been.

The next several months were tiring as Superman fought villains determined to take the Luthors place and alternately thought of a future alone. Over sixty years before he had allowed Clark Kent to fade into oblivion and had taken on may alias's since to hide that he never aged. Lex had left his fortune to his latest alias Kal Sullivan, after his best most loyal friend who had been lost several years earlier after her and Oliver's wedding.

Chloe had surprisingly enough died in child birth and Oliver Queen, the Green Arrow was left raising his seven year old son and newborn daughter alone and had retired from the hero game. Clark had been godfather and had broken down and cried when an old enemy of Oliver's had bombed the broken family and killed the last link to Chloe.

Lois had died while investigating a story on the mob. They had caught her and tortured her and by the time Clark had found her it had been to late. She had succumbed to her injuries later that night in the hospital after informing him that Superman had a duty to see the world better its self. Later that year he had published a book admitting about the fact that Superman was an Alien and about everything he knew of his race. He hadn't admitted who Superman was, but the public had not bothered to push.

Lana he had only heard of in passing from time to time but she had apparently passed away peacefully in her sixties with a husband, three children and eight grand children. He hadn't been able to be near her since the Kryptonite had entered her system and after finding out about everything she had done in her lust for power he had almost been thankful to Lex over it.

Pete had died in his eighties from cancer. He had been president for two terms and a Supreme court Judge along with a senator. He had never told Clark's secret despite all of the trouble he had encountered over it and had always stood for Superman and the Justice League in his political views.

His adoptive father, Jonathon Kent had died before anyone else and his mother, Martha had died in a plane crash on one of her many trips as Senator. He still owned the farm through corporations and dead end trails, though only Chloe would have the skills necessary to hack everything and find that out.

After he allowed Clark to 'die' he had stopped getting close to anyone but the justice league and after Bruce Wayne and Oliver died he had stopped growing closer to the new recruits as well. Flash had been cool but he had retired after several years and eventually passed away and Aqua Man had been poisoned by a chemical spill off the coast of Mexico. Wonder Woman had left Earth and eventually he was fully alone except for Lex. Now he didn't even have Lex around and the looming years seemed daunting.

After all even the man of steel could get lonely.

Six months after Lex's death found him seeking solace in his ice fortress. His confusion and loss had turned to rage over the past few days. Another wannabe thug had declared that they were Supermans greatest enemy and after killing the bastard he had retreated here alone with his thoughts and the artificial intelligence of his dead father Jor-El.

"It isn't fair father. Why am I still young, why am I still alive after everyone else is gone. Why am I left alone. How much longer until I pass on." he raged to the empty air.

"I truly do not know my son. Nothing is certain where you are concerned. We as a race were long lived anyways but I suspect my son that with the yellow sun powering you it is unlikely you will ever die unless you take your own life. As for being alone, well I tried to get you to admit years ago that you needed your soul holder. If you remember he stayed young until he lost his life. That is because he was your mate, he was meant to live as long as you did. You could still have him had you not fought yourself for so long."

Clark glared at the lit up crystals where the voice of his father was coming from. If he didn't fear losing the last person who truly knew him he would let his heat vision loose. But he didn't dare, not knowing if it would truly destroy the A.I.

"But is there no way. I have strength for many things but an eternity alone seems like it would be too much even for one such as me. The world is changing and the way of the hero is over, I am the last of my kind and I have no one to even stand with me anymore. The new hero's are children who don't know their limits and I have to rescue them constantly and the new villains are no better. All murder and no real finesse. It is sad when I am even complaining about my enemies Father." his tone was whining but he didn't care anymore.

The A.I. was silent for several long moments before the voice of his birth father filled the cavern.

"There is one way Kal-El, but it is very rare and can only be done in the pursuit of a soul holder. I will take your memories and powers and send them back to your younger body. It will be a shock to you to deal with youth again, but it will give you a chance to change everything. I wish for you to take the knowledge you have gained over the past century and instead of hiding your identity, I wish for you to embrace it and allow others to know the truth. Bring witchcraft back to the humans and help the 'meteor freaks' as they were called back then. Not all of them are evil and a group of superheros together would be much more efficient than just you. Will you do this Kal-El?"

Clark didn't even have to think it over, it was an easy decision anyways. He could stay as he was and be alone and never have his other half or he could go back and change things from the beginning. If he went back he could tell Lex the truth about himself from the beginning which might stop him from turning dark side and he could help stop some things from happening. He could see his parents and Chloe again, and even Pete as well.

He could get Lionel out of the way quickly and he could make sure his parents didn't want for anything. He could stop Alecia's murder and the loss of several students and hell, he might even save Whitney. He could stop the destruction of some of the good 'meteor freaks' like that Cyrus kid who could heal with a touch and he could maybe save Evan, who he found in the field with Lana. Last time he couldn't save him because his father died before anything could be done, but maybe he could stop that this time.

He could stop that whole thing with Adam Knight before it got a chance to happen and he might be able to stop Tina Greer from going crazy and homicidal. He could stop that science teacher from marrying Lex in the first place and he could prevent Jason Teague and his mother from bringing the second meteor shower onto Smallville. He could stop Zod and his merry bad of freaks from escaping the Phantom Zone, even if it left Raya there for eternity.

Kara could be free and awake earlier and the Justice League could do a whole lot more good if they didn't have to fight against Lex and 33.1. The biggest thing was Darkseid and stopping that before it had a chance to destroy half the world. There was so much more on top of that that could have ended better and with going back he could see to it that it did.

It only took him moments to come to a decision and when he did he smiled and turning to face the base crystal set he answered.

"I accept, father."

With a bright burst of light the fortress imploded taking him away.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary:** Clark watches the last person who truly knew him, Lex Luthor, finally die. Alone and adrift immortality looms ahead of him and he wonders why he must go it alone. Jor-el says it is because he turned against his soul holder or soul mate as humans would say. Turns out Lex wasn't meant to be his enemy but his lover. Clark is given the chance to go back and try again from the very beginning. Can he change the way things happened, can he truly give himself to the one man who could easily break him or will old insecurities hold him locked into a future he doesn't truly want.

**Warnings:** Male/male slash, strong language, less restrained Clark, murder, and spoilers.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing but the plot, though I am sure someone has done something similar at least once before.

Chapter Two

He woke with the sun, a habit bread into him by Jonathan Kent and one he had never been able to break. He could hear noise around him including the crow of a rooster, which couldn't be right because he hadn't actually slept at the farm in over twenty years. He opened his eyes and was immediately shocked by what was around him.

His old bedroom and not old as in last year or even ten years ago, old as in the one he hadn't seen since his late twenties because he had been forced to rebuild the farmhouse because some wanna-be villain had actually figured out where he lived and had blown it up in an attempt to kill him. It hadn't worked but the explosion had destroyed half of the farmhouse and he had to rebuild it from the ground up. This room hadn't even existed in the new plans.

Then it came back to him, he had been complaining to Jor-El about missing Lex and then his fathers AI had given him the option of going back, the only question was how far back he had been sent. He jumped out of the bed and started looking around, finding clues before he finally spotted the calendar on the wall. He hadn't kept the calendar since the house had been damaged in the second meteor shower so he hadn't thought about it but now that it was there he walked over to check it out as he heard movement coming from around the house.

The calendar had the dates marked off every night and when he looked at it he couldn't help the momentary shock he felt at seeing the date. September 12, 2001. The day he met Lex the first time around. It was the day he had originally found out about his heritage and the day before Whitney and his group of jerk friends had made him the scarecrow and he had saved them all from the kid who had been scarecrow the day of the meteor shower. It was also the first time he had lied to his soul holder, or soul mate as humans called them.

That sure as hell wouldn't be happening this time around.

He heard the kitchen door creak and it reminded him of the old farm house, more importantly the old farm. Being back in time meant the farm was still fully functional which meant he was needed to work it. Besides at this point in time the farm had been in a lot of debt and only his gifts had saved it a time or two. He knew he had school in two hours so he super sped through getting dressed and heading out to work.

It only took a few minutes to do all of his chores at his speed and then he took the extra time to do extra. It would mean less they would have to pay others for until he could fix their money issues. After all what good was x-ray vision if it couldn't be used for his gain. Finding gems and jewels had been easy and had helped him in the past life to build up a fortune for the Justice League so they had the funds necessary for supplies and to live comfortably while they fought evil. He even remembered a few of the places where he had found huge catches of diamonds and even a place where he had found a whole lot of gold nuggets. He would go get most of the gold tonight to hurry up and pay off the farm and give his adoptive parents a nice cushion just in case.

At six thirty he headed back into the house to shower and change for school, which was honestly a waste of his time. He had gone to college three times, not to even mention all of the training on different races and alien tech from his fortress, each time having a new major just to stave off the boredom of waiting for something big enough to require his attention. High school was a serious under estimation of his abilities.

He was slightly shocked but hid it when he entered the kitchen and saw his mom making breakfast. He couldn't help but give her a hug before heading up the stairs to wash off the grime. When he was out he went to his room to dress and was a bit put off at his wardrobe choices of plaid and prime colors. He grabbed one of his few plain black t-shirts and the only black hoodie he owned, which had never been worn, along with an older pair dark wash jeans and an old pair of black boots. They weren't work boots, they were cowboy boots, they had been a Christmas gift and he had never worn them but they were better than the work boots. It was a different look for him, more like what the other guys his age wore, but it was also comfortable and looked good on him, fitting tightly all over and showing off definition that not even Whitney, the star quarterback had.

He looked good and it would be great for everyone to get their first new idea of him while he looked as far from the Clark they thought they knew as possible. When he made it back down the stairs his mom already had a plate waiting on him and the second shock of the morning hit him. He guessed he would have to get used to it as seeing people he knew were dead alive was going to hit him every time and he remembered the death of Jonathan Kent very well.

He smiled widely while his adoptive parents glanced at him with curious expressions because of his attire. They didn't say anything though so he pretended not to notice. Last time this day had happened he had tried to get his dad to allow him to join the football team but it held no attraction to him this time so he was able to prevent the argument.

"Hey dad, I did some extra work this morning cause I had the time."

Jonathan looked relieved at that and Clark couldn't help but feel guilty about how much he hadn't paid attention to his parents financial troubles the first time around. At least he had a plan to make it easier this time, if he had his way his adoptive parents wouldn't have to worry about money for the rest of their lives by the next morning. He left the house with plenty of time to catch the bus but he willingly allowed it to pass him by. His hearing which had activated early along with everything else when he went back in time allowed him to catch the exchange between Chloe and Pete as they exchanged the money on the bet of his lateness.

He grinned as the bus headed out of sight and then tried to make his decision. He could hide everything from everyone like he had last time or he could let select people in this time. Chloe was definitely in and Lex as well but the world needed to get used to the idea of real life superheros before he let his identity out to the masses. With his mind made up he shot up into the air.

He took the time to fly by the farm that Lex had found the ship key in and using his x-ray vision he quickly found the key. He shot down and not even bothering to dig he stuck his arm down about a foot and came back up with the disk and headed back up into the sky and off to the school. He had enough time to stop at a small stream on the way to wash his arm off before speeding to the school on foot.

He would invite Chloe over that night along with Pete and tell them everything then. Besides Chloe needed to know to keep the list of the meteor gifted protected. To many issues had come about because of failure to do so the first time around. He arrived just as the bus did and headed to greet Pete and Chloe.

"Clark!" Chloe looked at him in shock. Obviously wondering how he had beat them there. He just smiled at them.

"Hey guys. How was your weekend?"

"Dude, I know you missed the bus, how did you beat us here?" Pete's voice was shocked, obviously not going to let this pass. Clark smiled at his friends.

"Took a shortcut. So how was your weekend?"

"It was great, spent the last warm weekend out at crater lake. So did your dad agree to sign the permission slip?" Pete asked.

"I decided against it. I have no desire to become another sports statistic. I was thinking if you were willing Chloe, that I might join the torch?" he phrased it as a question and was gifted with a beautiful smile from Chloe.

He would have to do something about her crush, and he knew just what was needed. After all, Oliver needed to settle down and he knew they were good for each other. The only issue was that Ollie was Lex's age and that meant six years older than they were. Statutory was a very real threat at this age.

"That would be great Clark. What do you want to cover?" she asked.

"Anything you want me to. Sports and agriculture for the area and some minor investigative journalism if you need it." he smiled what he had come to think of as his Superman smile.

"Alright, that is great Clark. I will divide up a few pieces for you and once we see what you write best we can set you up covering it full time."

"Sure thing Chlo. Just let me know. Now I do believe we're going to be late if we don't head in now." he grinned and turned to lead them in.

He saw Lana and more than that he saw her kryptonite necklace and made sure to twist himself around and walk backwards while chatting with Pete about the Crows chances of winning while giving a wide berth to the girl and her poison necklace. He had no desire to make a fool of himself or draw the attention of Miss Lang. After all the farther she stayed away from him the less she could worm her way into his life. The only reason Lana Lang had ever caught Lex's attention was because he had pointed her out in the first place.

He stopped off at his locker and passed the morning in in a blur of English and high school science that was mind numbingly boring after years of highly advanced alien tech and studying biochemistry and particle accelerators not to mention everything he had needed to know to beat Lex's genius traps. He didn't know if he would be able to make it through the next three and a half years of high school. He might have to look into graduating early. He would talk to Lex about it once he reconnected with him.

After all it might be to suspicious since he had spent a life time easily passing classes with A's and B's. If he suddenly got bored and aced everything it might draw the wrong type of attention. But on the flip side he didn't think he would be able to bring himself to under preform to get his normal grades and only hoped the teachers would simply think he was studying more than he had in the past.

At the very least he would easily be getting a college scholarship.

Lunch was spent in the Torch office seeing Chloe's 'wall of weird' and getting his first assignment to cover which would be the next nights homecoming game and Chloe would be covering the dance after the game. He would also be covering the farmers market that weekend.

During his free period he took some time to interview a few of the football players and cheerleaders, skipping Lana but getting Whitney, just for a bit of public opinion for his piece. The comments were appropriately droll and consisted mainly of 'we are gonna win cause the Crows are the best'.

The end of the school day couldn't have come fast enough and instead of wasting time he ran strait out to Leob bridge and set himself up perfectly. He had debated it all day and while he fully intended to tell Lex everything, the full truth including his time travel, it would only work if he could get his attention in the first place. This was the easiest way that he knew of to get Lex's attention. After all hitting someone with a car at sixty miles an hour was not something even the great Lex Luthor did every day.

It took much longer than he remembered for the truck with the bales of wire to pass and while he could have moved the wire the truck wasn't far enough away and Lex was too close for him to do it without the truck driver seeing it. Sure enough moments later Lex's Porsche came screaming down the road and he watched as the car hit the wire and Lex lost control. He saw the shock and regret as Lex noticed him less than a second before the car hit him at more than sixty miles an hour and crashed through the bridge behind him.

He didn't waist any time ripping the roof open, and pulling Lex's unconscious body out of the car. Lex had hit the steering wheel and knocked himself out and had managed to breath in a lungfull of water while he was at it. Clark froze for a moment seeing Lex so still and pale, the image of the last time Lex had died flashing through his mind but just as quickly he pushed it away and started CPR. Like the first time so long ago Lex choked out the water and began breathing again rather quickly.

His blue grey eyes looked up at Clark in shock and confusion before the damning words left his lips.

"I could have sworn I hit you with my car..."

Clark knew this was the deciding moment, the moment that would change the course of his fate but thinking back to the frail pain wracked body of Lex dying from kryptonite and he couldn't bring himself to lie so he answered Lex truthfully sealing his fate of being bound forever to this man.

"You did"


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary:** Clark watches the last person who truly knew him, Lex Luthor, finally die. Alone and adrift immortality looms ahead of him and he wonders why he must go it alone. Jor-el says it is because he turned against his soul holder or soul mate as humans would say. Turns out Lex wasn't meant to be his enemy but his lover. Clark is given the chance to go back and try again from the very beginning. Can he change the way things happened, can he truly give himself to the one man who could easily break him or will old insecurities hold him locked into a future he doesn't truly want.

**Warnings:** Male/male slash, strong language, less restrained Clark, murder, and spoilers.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing but the plot, though I am sure someone has done something similar at least once before.

Chapter Three

_His blue grey eyes looked up at Clark in shock and confusion before the damning words left his lips._

"_I could have sworn I hit you with my car..."_

_Clark knew this was the deciding moment, the moment that would change the course of his fate but thinking back to the frail pain wracked body of Lex dying from kryptonite and he couldn't bring himself to lie so he answered Lex truthfully sealing his fate of being bound forever to this man._

"_You did" _

Clark had begged the bald billionaire to keep his secret and he had done so telling the version that Clark had the first time around to the paramedics and Jonathan Kent which Clark had been very thankful for, all the while those blue grey eyes had watched him, cataloging everything. He knew Lex was trying to decide how to manipulate everything he had learned today, which honestly wasn't much. He had no doubt that at some point in the coming few days Lex would approach him for more information but first he would have a plan.

Clark did his best to put it out of his mind and after dinner and writing up the base for his article on the homecoming game he finished off his chores and headed up to his loft to wait until his adoptive parents settled down for the night. Once the main house lights had been turned off he changed into some of his work clothes and sped off into the night.

It took him almost five minutes of running at his top speed before he reached the wilds of Montana and the land where the gold was and he got to work quickly, having brought a shovel. He x-rayed the ground before finding just what he was looking for and then used his super speed to dig down almost twenty feet and begin extracting the gold into the duffel bag he had brought. It took about four hours to clear the whole field of gold and he would easily make a few million from the raw gold just as soon as he could sell it.

He worked to set the field back to rights before flying back to Smallville and making a stop at the quawatchi caves while he was at it. Last time the knife, the only thing capable of truly killing NAMAN or doomsday as he had called him, had been destroyed by the touch of human blood while Lex and Lionel fought over it. Like the crystals of knowledge, the blade wasn't meant to fall into human hands so he quickly x-rayed every bit of the caves to find the blade. He would get Lex to help him find Davis Bloom. Even though he wasn't doomsday yet he would be eventually so it would be best to deal with him before he could cause any suffering.

He wouldn't allow his human morals to hold him back like he had last time. Jimmy Olsen hadn't been good enough for Chloe but that didn't mean he had deserved to die. No Clark would just point out how bad he was for Chloe before she ever met him and stop that in its tracks. After all he couldn't really picture Chloe with anyone but Ollie anymore.

That reminded him about Oliver who at this moment was deserted on an island and had been for a year. Clark knew that Oliver would be rescuing himself in about a year along with Tess Mercer. He could easily fly out and find Oliver and save him before Tess even landed on that stupid island but that would likely end in Tess's death and it might ensure Ollie never followed the path of Green Arrow. As much as he would like to have his old friend back right then Oliver's life had a path and while Clark was sure he could still set him on the correct path it was easier to let it happen in its own time even if that meant it would be two more years before Oliver was back in his life.

But just because he had to do without the Arrow as his spandex buddy it didn't mean he had to do it all alone. After all he may not be a billionaire but he knew how to get money to finance the JLA and if he hooked up with Lex and Bruce Wayne then it wouldn't take long to bring together a team. After all A.C. And Bart were out there somewhere along with Chloe who would jump at the chance to be Watchtower especially once he had access to his ship and was able to amp up her kryptonite power and enhance her mind without having her suffer Brainiac to do it in the first place.

Luckily his ship was in the storm cellar and after dealing with the fortress for years he knew how to reprogram it to do anything he wanted.

But none of that matted at the moment because it was almost three in the morning and he had school the next day. He took the knife and all of his gold and headed back to the farm and while he was still awake he did the majority of his chores and made sure his homework was finished before raiding the fridge. He was starving and using so much power in his younger body all day had burned through a lot of energy. He needed more than twice the calories of a human normally but with being so young again and the awakening of all of his powers at once plus the use of them had burned more than three times the normal human amount.

By the time he had finished eating and finished his chores and his dads his parents were waking up and he hurried to shower and start making breakfast for his parents. Feeding them would make the coming talk easier to handle. After all to himself he was almost a hundred but to them he was just fifteen and he wasn't supposed to be out all night. But he figured they would forgive him for it once he handed them the equivalent of five million in raw gold.

He mixed up the batter for waffles and pulled out the old waffle maker while he put some sausage on the stove and got out some fruit and all of the syrup and butter to finish off the table. As expected his dad was the first one down and he gaped at him in shock. After all normally he was the last to wake up and he had certainly not known how to cook at this stage in life the first time around.

"Who are you and what have you done with my son?" the man joked as he started the coffee pot.

"Very funny dad. I couldn't sleep so I stayed busy last night and decided it wouldn't hurt me to do some extra work this morning. I finished all of my morning chores and most of this afternoons along with some of yours so you can just sit down and enjoy breakfast. Besides I need to talk to you an mom."

"Clark, son is everything alright. You have been off since yesterday. I know that being a teenage comes with some odd stuff but... Son if you need to talk you know your mom and I are here right?"

His dad sat down his coffee cup and laid his hands on either of Clark's shoulders in a show of support. He thought of saying something about his powers but decided to wait until both his parents were there.

"I am alright dad, just some new developments in the weird factor. Nothing to worry about." he grinned sheepishly.

He had already decided that as much as he loved his parents it was too dangerous to give them the full story. Like everyone but Lex and Chloe they would be given the watered down clean version. It would be up to Chloe to decided what to tell Oliver if things worked like they had last time and she married the man.

After all his parents, no matter how much he loved them might not understand him coming back in time to save what they would only see as his greatest enemy but Chloe and Lex, well they would see the truth of it. After all even though Lex couldn't stand most people even he had those whom he cared for and Chloe, well Chloe would only have to think of loosing him and Pete and she would get it.

Soon enough Martha joined them in the kitchen and both of his parents turned to him giving him their full attention.

"First off I want you both to know that I know. I know where I am from and who my parents and my people were and I even know what brought me to earth."

They both looked shocked for a moment before Martha spoke.

"But Clark how, we don't even know any of that. When did you find out?"

"I guess it is some sort of genetic memory but that isn't quite right. It is something my birth father created for me when he realized he was going to have to send me away. It was downloaded into my brain for lack of a better term and only activated yesterday once I was old enough to understand it all. My birth name is Kal-El and my parents were Lara and Jor-El of the house of El from the planet Krypton. My world was at war due to a man named Zod who was driven mad with grief and turned on his own people. He destroyed so many in his quest to destroy the ruling cabinet so that he could order the scientists to clone his dead son that our civilization was on the brink of collapse before he was finally captured and sent to prison just days after I was born. What no one knew was that he had already set Kryptons destruction in motion when he realized he couldn't win. He set an explosion that destabilized the planets core and no one realized it until it was to late. My birth parents only had long enough to build my ship and it was activated sending me away right as the planet exploded killing everyone on it. So far as I know I am the last of my race alive."

Jonathan and Martha were both shocked at this information before Martha realized the true grief in his voice and moved to comfort him.

"Oh Clark, sweetheart I am so sorry. Do you know anything else about them or where you are from?"

"Yes, but I also know about several other races and species as well. Kryptonians were knowledge keepers for the universes. They were inventors and historians and were generally peaceful only fighting to protect their own until Zod's war. My memories or knowledge what ever you wish to call it include everything about my race and my planets history and science. Honestly some of it is amazing. But the most relevant parts for now are my powers."

"When you say powers how many and what are we talking about exactly?" Jonathan questioned warily.

"Well the thing is that on Krypton I would be just like you. No powers and only mild other things like a soul holder or what you would term as a soul mate. But Krypton was under a red sun and my powers come from the radiation of the yellow sun. Everything about me is amplified here. I cam not only run faster than a speeding bullet but I can fly and shoot intense heat out of my eyes. I can blow so cold that I can freeze things and I am all but invulnerable. There are very few things that can cause me any harm and one of them is green Kryptonite which is actually radioactive pieces of my home planet whose properties are changed under the sun. The other thing is my soul mate."

"Soul mate like love and babies?" Martha questioned happily.

"It would not have necessarily been so on Krypton but like everything else on earth it is amplified. On Krypton soul holders are just what they sound. They each hold a piece of the other like one soul in two bodies. The two compliment each other and about half of the time the relationships turned romantic the other half of the time they ended up as just friends. I do not have that option. I realized yesterday when I came across mine that the bond must become romantic. I no longer harbor even fantasies about any others. Luckily my species is capable of bearing young whether they are male of female because my soul holder is male."

He could see recognition and then resolve come over Jonathan's features.

"Who is is Clark?" his tone was resigned.

"Lex Luthor. It is what started the mental download. I have no choice in it, Lex is it for me. I am going to tell him, I have no choice but I wanted to warn you first. I know you probably want me to keep it a secret but I can not lie to him. I have to because I can't take the chance of loosing him so I will tell him everything."

"This is dangerous Clark. The Luthor's aren't like us son. If he told the wrong person it could become very bad for you. We can't protect you from the government. If you feel you have to do this then at least make sure you are safe about it and make sure he understands what could happen if he tells anyone." Jonathan said.

Clark was shocked. Jonathan had never been this reasonable in his first life but learning that your son had a determined mate had obviously made a difference. He had known his adoptive parents loved him but here was the proof of just how much. For Jonathan Kent to put aside his deep seated hatred because Clark needed Lex was a testament to his love.

"I will be careful. Besides if he accepts the bond then it will begin to affect him as well until he will feel it as strongly as I do. He will be just as loyal to me as I am to him." Clark said with certainty.

"Well alright Clark. If you are sure then we will stand with you. Now is there anything else before you have to go to school?" Martha questioned.

"Actually yes. One of my new powers is x-ray vision and I can see through everything but lead. I decided that while I use the rest of my powers to protect others and make their lives better I could use my powers to make life better for us just this once. I went for a flight last night and while I was doing so I spotted a large deposit of gold in the mountains. Since it is national forest no one would have discovered it for a very long time so I dug it up and then put the land back to rights. Its all in this duffel bag." he bit his lip sheepishly as he picked the bag up and set it on the counter.

Martha and Jonathan both looked at it in shock.

"I know I probably shouldn't have but it honestly can't hurt. There is enough there to pay off all of the farms debts and set up a very large cushion along with setting up a side project I have in mind to make even more money. Thanks to my fathers science I know about quite a lot of alien technology that was created centuries ago to stop Kryptonian from using fossil fuels and damaging the planet. Most races without magic now use the tech for all of their energy and fuel needs. I intend to release the knowledge along with some other things that will have a positive effect on the world and make billions."

Martha looked startled at that and Jonathan looked mildly impressed but also worried.

"But Clark, how will you have just discovered it. You are just fifteen. I don't think people will believe a freshman in high-school came up with major technology that will reshape the world." she stood twisting her hands worriedly looking at him with pleading eyes.

"I know mom. Don't worry I have a plan. Lex will actually play a big part in it if he is willing and if he isn't then I will do it all from behind the scenes using front companies. If no one knows who the CEO and head inventor is I can just play a recluse and I know enough about technology now that covering my tracks will be easy. Honestly human technology is really outdated but since humans are a young race that is only to be expected."

They both still looked worried but they couldn't say anything else as the horn from the bus sounded.

"I have to go. I will deal with the gold later. Just stick it somewhere and I will deal with it tomorrow since its Saturday. Love you gotta go." he yelled as he rushed to grab his bag and head out.

He caught the bus for once and smiled at Chloe and Pete while apologizing to them both for canceling the night before. He had used the excuse of Lex's accident and that ended up being the only thing either of them and most everyone else wanted to talk about most of the day at school.

Classes passed quickly and he actually ran into several kryptonite freaks that he knew from later in life. Several that he had been forced to deal with and a few of the good ones like Cyrus. He would need to geet the blue-K antidote quickly. It wouldn't cure them but it would cure the chemicle imbalance that drove most of them mad meaning they would no longer go nuts unless they were already nuts through no fault of the meteors.

The best way to deal with it was to get them all to drink some water infused with the blue-K like those crazy 'Believers' that had tried to sacrifice Lois had. He would speak with Lex and Chloe once he had spoken to them about everything. He couldn't just do it himself because the blue-k turned him human and if they attacked he wouldn't be able to do anything against them but getting a bunch of the water and several of the rocks to make more was necessary so it had to be done. It would only take about a glass each and it would only need one dose so maybe they could hand out some bottled water for free at some town events or something.

Either way they only had about a week before the first murder that could be prevented. That Jeremy Creek kid had already killed the mechanic the night before but he already knew how to stop him and he would do so tonight.

The school day was over much to quickly and he headed home to get ready for the game and then the dance. In all reality he wasn't going to the dance but the game was necessary as was the pregame activities. He knew Whitney would be part of the group that would be picking the scarecrow and that Whitney would be wearing Lana's necklace but if he moved quickly enough and had a lead box he could zip in quickly enough to not be seen and lock it in lead before rescuing their prey and handing them their asses all without them seeing who it was. He would be stripping them all and tying them to posts on the football field for the coach and their team to find before the game. It wouldn't take more than an hour before they were found while he had been in the corn field for the entire game and part of the dance.

It would make them sore without doing any real damage except to their pride. The note he would be leaving would make certain they all knew that it was the last time the scarecrow would every happen. As expected the truck was there when he got home but it was different. The first time it had been a nice truck but now it was the most expensive on the market and the tailgate was filled with things. He only shook his head and headed into the house where his mom was waiting in the kitchen.

"Let me guess... Lex?" he smiled.

"Yes. But Clark your father has the keys."

"I know. I wouldn't keep it anyways. I need to do my homework and take care of something really quickly but I will take it back to him after the game."

"Alright, let your father know."

"Sure thing. Love you I will be in my fortress." he kissed her cheek and after grabbing a few cookies and his backpack he headed out to the barn where Jonathan was working. After a quick conversation with his father informing him he would return the truck and stuff after the game.

He hurried through his homework and with his super speed he was done in under five minutes and then he asked if he could borrow some fencing supplies.

"Why do you need posts for Clark?"

"Because I am going to put a stop to something that should have been ended years ago. The scarecrow tradition is seen as a big joke but its not dad. It is nothing less than torture and the person picked as scarecrow can really get hurt. I don't know if you participated in it when you were in high school but I know that stringing someone up all but naked for hours was something that the Romans only used for the worst criminals and enemy's. To do that to a fifteen year old is disgusting. I am going to use my powers to stop it.

I already know from my gifts which include super hearing exactly who is going to be in on it and I am going to step in when they act and instead of them stringing someone up out in the field I am going to string all five of them up on the football field. They will be found before the game so it will only be about an hour but it will certainly send the message out. I need the posts to tie them to."

Jonathan looked at him in shock for a minute and Clark could tell he was about to refuse when he spoke up.

"They were planning on making me the scarecrow because I had a crush on Lana. Whitney was going to get Lana's necklace which is made of the only thing that can hurt me and put it on me and string me up in the field."

With that he saw his dads face harden. The thought of anyone hurting him was enough for Jonathan to grit his teeth, nod and turn away without saying anything. It only took a few minutes to build the crosses and find the rope necessary and then he used some back roads and fields to run them all to the school and hide them under the bleachers before he sat back to listen for them.

It only took about thirty more minutes before they chose a target and started to move. Unsurprisingly they chose Cyrus, the kid with the healing power who thought he was an alien. Clark waited until they had him cornered in the back of the parking lot before he moved. It took all of a few seconds for him to drive the posts deep into the field and then run over to the group. He had bent some lead fram equipment parts into a small box and he ran past closing it over the meteor rock faster than they could even see. Once that was taken care of he got to work.

Whitney and his best friend were holding Cyrus and he grabbed them first by the backs of their jackets running them to the field before heading back for the others. He was moving so quickly that the other three hadn't even realized that the first two were missing yet when he got back and he took two others.

The last one went just as quickly and they were all just starting to realize something was wrong. He was moving so fast it was like the world had stopped around him and he quickly stripped them down to their underwear and using his strength had them lifted up and tied to their own posts before they could react. With that done he ran back to where Cyrus still stood looking around in shock and relief.

He stopped right in front of the boy causing him to jump.

"What just happened?" the boy asked.

"I made a point I think. Come on Cyrus, we need to talk." and he turned to lead the way into the deserted school to the Torch where unsurprisingly Chloe was working.

"Hey Chloe, if you want a really good front page I suggest you grab your camera and head out to the football field." He couldn't help the smirk on his face.

"Why Clark. What am I going to find? Who is your friend?" she asked the last once she had turned and seen Cyrus standing by him.

"Chloe this is Cyrus. Cyrus meet Chloe Sullivan the editor of the Torch and my very best friend. As to what you will find Chlo', you will find the star quarterback along with some of his minions strung up for their own tradition. Seems someone took exception to the scarecrow tradition. Do me the favor of keeping my name out of it will you." he grinned at her.

"How did you get the jump on Whitney and his minions? They are Seniors Clark." she questioned excitedly as she grabbed her camera and headed towards the door.

"I promise to tell you tonight if you are up for missing the dance. If not I will tell you tomorrow at the farmers market. Scouts honor." he did a little salute before she looked at him skeptically and turned to rush to the field.

He shut the doors once she was gone and turned to Cyrus who had been standing nervously waiting for him to get to him.

"Have a seat Cyrus. I promise I don't bite." he grinned his Superman grin and waved to a chair.

Once the small blond boy had sat down he finally spoke.

"How did you do that? I didn't know that anyone but me could do anything special. I mean there are rumors but I have never seen anyone actually do it." he twisted his hand tightly as he spoke.

"There are several Kryptonite altered humans in Smallville and the surrounding areas. I am not one of them. My powers come from what I am. What I am going to tell you is probably going to upset you quite a bit but I promise it is the truth. The day of the meteor shower a ship did come down but you weren't in it. You had a family and were from Smallville. The meteors hit yours house and vaporized it and your parents. You were out playing in your yard or something and you saw the ship before you were knocked unconscious. The hit to your head took your memories, all of them except for the ship which is why you think you are an alien."

Cyrus had started shaking his head no and had started to get up before Clark laid a calming hand on him.

"But no, that's not possible. I would remember if I had parents on earth and what about what I can do?" he spoke in a pleading tone, beseeching Clark to take it back.

"The thing is Cyrus, the Kryptonite is pieces of my home planet and they cause mutations in humans. But humans can only handle one mutation so they only get one gift. I know I am Kal-El of Krypton because I have a genetic memory from my people along with my ship as proof. The ship you saw. But is you think about it you can draw the outside of the ship as it was falling, you wouldn't be able to do that if you had been inside it. I know it is upsetting but it is the truth. You are gifted, very gifted and if you like I will go out of my way to get you a new family that will love you. But I have another offer if you are willing to listen to it."

The smaller boy looked at him with tears in his eyes before he thought it over.

"What is the offer?" he whispered out.

"You and I are not the only ones with powers. There are several others with amazing gifts. For some reason the meteors that give you and the others powers also cause an imbalance in some of their minds driving them crazy and turning several of them into murderers. I have found a way to counteract the imbalance without taking their powers. I plan to fix the imbalance and then if they have a useful power I intend to build a Justice League. Think of it like a superhero team. We will work to stop the mutated people who use their powers for ill and we will also work against regular criminals. I imagine a healer would come in very handy and be a very valuable member of the league. You will be paid but even more than that you will have a chosen family. It may not be like having parents but it will be a family who will fight for and protect you, welcome you without judgment. And you will get a super cool code name..." he trailed off the last part in a sing song voice getting a very small smile from the slightly younger man.

"A cool code name huh, well who could pass that up. You said you could get me a better family though. If you could it would be great. My foster parents don't really like me very much and if I had someplace else to stay it would be great."

"Sure. I understand completely. It may take me a day or two but I will see about getting you somewhere else to stay at least. If all else fails you can crash at my place until I can buy headquarters and then you will have your own room. Deal?"

"Deal. How do you want to go about this?"

"Well I am working on getting funds and actually did that last night and over the next couple of months I will be building up the team. I hope to have a base of operations both here and in metropolis by Christmas. For now how about I take you back to my place and leave you with my mom while I deal with another issue. You can call from my place and ask your foster parents if you can crash at my place. Might as well get everyone used to seeing us together." he grinned.

"Um alright. How are we getting to your place and what do you have to deal with?" he stood and Clark stood as well.

"Just hold still, this will be a bit odd for a minute." he said before lifting the small boy and running at top speed to the farm. He stopped in the kitchen and let him down causing Martha to jump.

"Clark, what on earth. You are going to give me a heart attack one day young man. Who is this?" she questioned once noticing the smaller blond boy.

"Mom I would like you to meet Cyrus. Cyrus can heal people with a touch. Do you know where my old water guns are?" he questioned absently, not noticing his mothers shock.

"They are in the barn Clark, but what were you saying about... Cyrus, was it?" she smiled directing the last part at Cyrus.

He just nodded while Clark spoke.

"Cyrus is human but affected by the Kryptonite. He is gifted with healing and his foster parents don't treat him well. I intend to see about getting him somewhere else to stay but right now I have to deal with a kid who is affected by the meteors and is electrocuting people. I need my water guns because they will short circuit his power and snap him back into reality. After that I have to go to the game which Cyrus, you are welcome to join me if you wish... and then I have to take Lex his truck back. Cyrus won't tell my secret because that would mean admitting to his own. Now I can hear Jeremy and he is about to attack someone else so I gotta go, I will be back in about fifteen minutes." he kissed her cheek and sped to the barn where he x-rayd boxes until he saw a super soaker. It didn't take long to fill it up before he ran off to deal with Jeremy.

It only took one good blast of the water to shock the kid out of his crazy place and like last time he had no memory of anything and just wanted to go home. Unlike last time the bank teller was still alive. He led Jeremy to a responsible adult and headed back to the farm to get everything he would need for the game and see if Cyrus would be going.

Shockingly enough Cyrus agreed to join him and Clark called Chloe to see if she could give them a lift because running every where was fine on his own or with someone who could match him but it was bound to be weird for Cyrus.

He knew it meant a grilling session but it would be worth it for his best friend. With a smile he knew that things were going to interesting and he couldn't wait.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary:** Clark watches the last person who truly knew him, Lex Luthor, finally die. Alone and adrift immortality looms ahead of him and he wonders why he must go it alone. Jor-el says it is because he turned against his soul holder or soul mate as humans would say. Turns out Lex wasn't meant to be his enemy but his lover. Clark is given the chance to go back and try again from the very beginning. Can he change the way things happened, can he truly give himself to the one man who could easily break him or will old insecurities hold him locked into a future he doesn't truly want.

**Warnings:** Male/male slash, strong language, less restrained Clark, murder, and spoilers.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing but the plot, though I am sure someone has done something similar at least once before.

Chapter Four

While he was on the phone his mother apparently decided Cyrus was hers now because when he got back to the kitchen the kid was being fed like a king. He had a huge sandwich and a tall glass of milk with a slice of her apple pie sitting off to the side and his eyes were huge as he looked at the meal in front of him while Martha chatted on about his 'snack' and seeing about having something waiting for them when they got back from the game that evening.

He interrupted with a grin.

"So Chloe will be here in about thirty minutes. Will you have time to eat all of that by them?" he chuckled and kissed his mom's cheek as she passed him an equally large sandwich and glass of milk.

"I think so..." Cyrus offered hesitantly before picking up half of his sandwich and attempting to open his mouth wide enough to get a bite.

Clark shook his head laughing silently as he started on his own food. When he was done poor Cyrus was only finished with the first half of his sandwich and Clark just grinned before heading out to find Jonathan who handed him the keys to the truck left by Lex. Clark would drop them off after the game while Chloe and Cyrus were at the dance. It would give them time to talk before he had to get back. Chloe had agreed to bring Cyrus back to the farm after the dance.

Just a few minutes later his oldest and best friend pulled up his long drive in her old beetle and she popped out with a grin.

"So the front page of Monday's paper is going to be an amazing snap-shot of the teams star players in flagrante'. I don't know if you had anything to do with that but if you did it was amazing." she gushed.

"I might have had something to do with it but I'll never tell. You might as well come in to collect Cyrus, I don't think mom will let him go otherwise."

When they got in Cyrus was just finishing his pie and milk with a smile on his face. Clark let Chloe say her hellos and then the three of them took off to the high school and the game. It went much like Clark had remembered hearing but the team was oddly subdued and he caught the 'scarecrows' rubbing their shoulders and arms a few times. He kept his laughter to himself but he caught both Chloe and Cyrus smirking more than once. When the game was over and the students headed into the school to the dance he bid his farewells and headed off at a run in his speed to the castle in the corn.

When he got there he paused for a moment to x-ray the castle and just as he suspected he caught sight of Lex in his office. A few more sweeps deeper and he caught no less than five surveillance bugs including two cameras hidden around the room. Grinning to himself he kicked back into super-speed and jumped the fence before rushing through the castle and int Lex's office. He grabbed the two cameras first crushing them between his thumb and finger and depositing them on his desk, pausing long enough for Lex to jump at the sight of him and raising his finger to his lips.

Lex raised an eyebrow and looked down at the tiny electronics as Clark winked at him and one by one gathered the other three bugs, moving slow enough so Lex could see him move but still much faster than anything Lex had seen before. He finally stopped before Lex's desk again with the remaining bugs and handed them over.

"How did you know these were here?" the bald billionaire questioned as he stared at the now destroyed bits of metal.

"I am much more than simply invulnerable Lex. I found these through x-ray vision. I couldn't talk to you with them here because I can't allow your father to find out about me. Though he might already suspect he has no true proof and until I can render him unable to interfere with me and my own I can not allow him to gain any."

"What is it my father suspects of you?" the Luthor questioned as he stood and moved to his bar, grabbing a bottle of ty-nat and offering one to Clark.

Clark took the offer of the chilled water and settled on one of the black couches by the fireplace, lex sitting on the other.

"You probably don't remember because you lost most of your early memories in the meteor shower but your father belonged to a group led by Doctor Virgil Swann that called themselves Veritas. Their purpose revolved around a being they called the traveler who Dr Swann had found and decoded a message about. The traveler was a child, a boy child who was being sent from a distant planet on the brink of destruction. His parents planned for the child to find a home on Earth and to lead the humans into an age of enlightenment. Veritas was formed to find and aide the traveler but they didn't hold to that path for long. The Queen's and the Swann's both held true but your father and the Teagues both decided they would rather use the traveler for their own ends." he paused as Lex made a noise of amusement.

"Who ever thought my father would be willing to let someone else lead." he chuckled sadly and motioned for Clark to continue.

"Part of the supposed prophecy was of a way to stop the traveler and control him if he didn't fulfill his destiny and instead became a danger to the inhabitants of earth. Your father and the Teagues both believe that this device will make me biddable, a puppet with my powers but the orb won't make me biddable it will make me controllable by taking my powers and making me human. Granted my powers would come back over time but whoever activates the orb will die in the process so they still wouldn't be able to control me."

"So you are the traveler?" Lex questioned, excitement lacing his voice as he leaned forward with his elbows resting on his knees.

"Yes I am. My birth name is Kal El. I am the son of the elite scientist Jor-El and his wife Lara Lor-van from the planet Krypton."

"So there is other life out there, we are not alone."

"There is quite a bit of other life out there. Hundreds of species and planets and galaxy's teaming with life of all types and forms. I intend to send word to the Green Lanterns, which are basically the galactic police and special agents, that I am alive and on Earth. They will come here and observe and if they think Earth is ready they will open up trade and communications between us and a few other planets. But I intend to swing things in Earths favor. I have access to a set of data files from the Krypton Archives. The Kryptonians were the knowledge keepers of the universe. They had been alive and existing for thousands of years before Earth ever formed. They had technology that you would consider 'green' which prevented pollution and helped grow crops and clear existing pollution. They used crystals and sound and light wave to run engines instead of using precious natural resources. They had science that was thousands of years ahead of anything currently on Earth and I have the knowledge and capabilities to recreate it all. With that behind us we will certainly be ready for galactic trade and communications."

"Are you certain it will work?"

"Yes. I am. But before I explain it to you I need to finish what I was originally speaking about. " He took a drink of his water as Lex waited for him to continue.

"It comes back to the orb. Dr Swann found an artifact that had been sent to lead the way to the orb which had been hidden on earth. He hid the artifact and then hid clues on how to find it in a safety deposit box in Switzerland. The box requires two keys to open and he kept one and gave the second to the Queens. If you remember the Queens plane was lost and they with it the day before the meteor shower. There was no malfunction Lex. Your father had the Queens killed and their key stolen because they all knew that the meteor shower was coming and me with it. Your father brought you to Smallville not to buy the plant, though he used it as an excuse, but to be able to find me and capture me before the others. He had one key and was determined to capture me and get the other key to control me. The only thing that stopped him was you. When you went missing in the corn field during the shower it allowed Jonathan and Martha Kent to find me before he and his mercenaries could. In order to get you to the hospital and save your life I had to be seen with the Kent's in public by dozens upon dozens of hospital workers and towns people and by then it was too late. There were too many people who had seen me with them and if he had them killed and me taken there would be too many questions."

"So I saved your life."

"Yes. But I have no doubt the whole reason you were sent to Smallville was so he had a reason to be here more often. After all he has hundreds of businesses all over the world and him spending a significant amount of time at a crap factory in the middle of no where would draw a lot of attention. However if his only son and heir was banished there due to his own actions and Lionel went to visit and gave it more focus as a caring parent trying to led his son to being more mature and clean up his act well that is good publicity and a convenient excuse."

"I am not sure how to feel about that. On one hand I get his obsession but why haven't the others done something to stop him? How is it that no one knows he killed the Queens? How do we stop him, and why are you telling me all of this?"

"I am telling you because I can not do otherwise. My people were very evolved Lex, they had grown past racism and violence against there own. In doing so they had evolved to an enhanced state that allowed them to find what humans call soul mates and Kryptons called soul holders or 'mirror's in slang. They knew that it wasn't necessarily sexual but more a perfect partnership. Each group of mirrors decided for themselves if they would pursue a romantic relationship or a more platonic form such as best friends or siblings. It was rare but not uncommon for them to find their mirror in another race and often depending on their decision they would move to their mirror's home world. The issue being that different worlds brought out different facets of my people. You have to understand on Krypton I would be just like you, human. But my world had a red sun. On earth due to your yellow sun I have gifts and abilities so far beyond anything you can imagine. But like my physical form my psychic and emotional abilities are enhanced. I do not have a choice in my mirror being romantic or friendly. For good or ill I am yours and have been since I acknowledged the pull. Acknowledgment triggered my mind and body into tying me to you forever. You of course can refuse but I can't understand why you would."

"Wait, you are saying your my soul mate, or mirror?" Lex leaned back his face going blank as he thought over what he had just heard.

"Do I have any choice? What happens if I reject you? What happens if I accept you?" he questioned suddenly, his eyes sharp and his demeanor steady. This was Lex Luthor at his most dangerous, this was the man who had become president and made Lex-corp the single greatest company on Earth.

"You have a choice. If you reject me romantically I will not be able to be with anyone else my choice has already been made but you could continue on as you are and find some one or some many to share your bed and life. I hope if your choose that path you will at least allow me to remain your friend and I will welcome you as a business partner in RAO industries which I am going to build and use to introduce the technology and science to the Earth. If you accept me however you will have a loyal, faithful life time companion who will never betray you or leave you. You will be my only and I will do everything I can to make you happy. That is not to say that we will not disagree from time to time but our disagreements will be kept private and respectful instead of public and violent. If you choose to accept your mind and body will also begin tying you to me so you would cease to feel attraction to anyone else and you would find peace and comfort in my presence. You would also gain some physical enhancements from me. Your healing factor would speed up more than twice what it is now. You would gain a few inches until you at least matched me and you would be a bit more heavily muscled. You would be about twice as strong as you are and you would be faster than any human. You will not match me because you would remain mostly human but you would be more than a match for any human and more durable besides. You would also gain my longevity and I warn you I will stop aging at about twenty-five and I am unsure of just how long I will live but it will be a few centuries at minimum."

"That is a lot to think over Clark. Or do you prefer Kal?"

"I prefer Clark. It is more common and I don't want anyone to know about me just yet. You understand what the government would do to an alien I am sure."

"Could they do anything to you?"

"If they figured out my weakness they could. But I have no intention of giving them that amunition."

"Alright. You mentioned RAO Industries. I have never heard of them before. How do you plan to start a company with, well not to be insulting, but with your families finances?"

"You missed the x-ray vision part didn't you? I can see through anything but lead and indeed have already gone digging for gold. I have approximately five million in raw gold that I dug up from unprocessed government land. It is from a national park but I didn't damage anything. I will sell it and use the funds as start up for Rao Industries. I already have several of the plans for the machines figured out I simply have to put them to paper and create the prototype. I intend for us to remain private with no board of directors or share holders simply because I already know the direction I want us to go and I don't want to have to fight anyone about my vision for my own company. You are of course welcome to half of the company as what is mine is yours even if you reject me. I would like to purchase the Smallville Luthor Corp plant from you for three million and simply convert the facilities to what I need them. It will create seventy new jobs as a minimum and using the Kryptonian tech it will also heal the damage cause by your fathers illegal dumping and the general pollution from the plant. Within a year Smallville will be the cleanest, healthiest town in the world."

"That is a lofty goal. What makes you think my father will sell. And what makes you think I want anything to do with your company."

"Your father will sell because I am offering twice what the plant is worth and you will want involved because it will infuriate your father and allow your name to be leading edge in technological and medical advancements. I will not just be releasing Kryptonian tech but also reworking and even inventing new things. You are a scientist Lex, no matter what else you are. Plus within a year Rao Industries will have matched and surpassed Luthor Corp, Wayne Industries, and Queen Industries."

"That is certainly incentive. How long do I have to decide?"

"I will be selling the gold tomorrow, I know where to go for the best price. It will be set up as an inheritance from my fake birth parents that a lawyer from a prestigious firm will come to me on Monday about. By Friday at the latest I will have an offer ready for your father. You need to be ready by then."

"Do I have to have a relationship with you to be a part of Rao?"

"No. It would be best if we were at least friends but its not necessary."

"I do have to wonder how you know just what to say to make me want to agree."

"I will tell you if you like but it must never be mentioned anywhere that we are certain is not one hundred percent private."

"I would like you know." Lex decided his silver-blue eyes burning.

"Then I shall tell you. I met you for the first time in my memory the same way I did yesterday. For six years we were best friends, brothers, because I could not allow myself to admit that I was even more different than just an alien. I lied to you about whether you hit me with your car and I lied to you about a lot more than that as well. I saved your life a lot over those six years but with my lying and refusing to trust you with my secrets you eventually stopped making excuses for me, and you were right to do so. We eventually became enemies mainly, to be honest, to keep each others attention. I eventually created a false identity called Superman and acted as a real life Warrior Angel and to keep my attention you became my very own arch enemy. Honestly if you had actually wanted to you could have stopped me at any time. You knew my weakness and my true identity. You could have told the world, captured me, killed me but you never did.

I helped create the Justice League which was a group of superheros. Not all of them had powers but most did and together we helped clean up natural disasters, stop crazy mad scientists and alien dictators and invasions. Most of us had a designated city and helped the others if we were needed and of course if there was a super powered bad guy we joined forces. I had Metropolis, Batman has Gotham. You have heard of him right, he has just been around a couple of months. Star City had Green Arrow and Auqa Man had the oceans. There were others as well. You eventually became the president and did a wonderful job at it, by the way. But eventually one by one the founding members of the Justice League fell. They were killed or died of old age and the younger members were to in awe of me to be my friends. It was awful especially since we were fighting. When we were both over a hundred you still didn't look a day over thirty, but you came up with a scheme to match me. You had collected quite a bit of my blood over the years and you found some way to inject yourself with it in hopes of gaining all of my powers. You didn't take into effect the fact that over the course of the years you had experimented with massive amounts of kryptonite, which is my only weakness, and you had absorbed quite a bit of it. To you it wasn't harmful but when you transitioned to Kryptonian it became deadly. You had enough time to call me to you and we spoke for a bit but a couple hours later I had to watch as the last person who knew me and the man I had been secretly in love with for almost all of my life died. It took me two months before I found a way to come back and I woke up the morning that you hit me with your car. By that point I had already accepted that you were my mirror and decided that this time I would do it right. The biggest change I could think of was to admit you had hit me with your car. Once I did that I knew everything had changed. I won't lie to you now, not when it lost me so much before."

Lex was stunned for a few moments before he moved to his bar and poured himself some scotch.

"So time travel is possible?" he finally turned back to Clark.

"Not regularly no. I used every bit of power in my fortress and erased that entire time line to come back. My fortress won't be capable of that level of power again for over five hundred years and even then it will only be able to go back about ten years at a time."

"How do you know that things will go the way you want them to this time around? You could have done all this for nothing."

"Tell me honestly Lex, do you want Victoria Hardwick or one of the other society girls your father would push on you, or even one of the society boys?"

"Well no but I want children and I can't have that with you."

"Actually you can." Lex goggled at him for a moment before moving to sit down.

"How do you plan that Clark."

"When Kryptonian's discovered soul holders they realized that around forty percent of the matches were of the same sex and they wanted for males to be able to have biological children if they wished to. A scientist developed a serum that the bearer of the couple could take which would allow for their body to form a womb and which shifted their sperm into an egg. It took a few generations but it eventually became a basic part of kryptonian genetics. I am capable of conceiving and carrying a child now. I have the blue prints for the virus which requires only a few key components adjusted for the human body but I already figured it out my first time around. I remember it all and within two weeks of gathering all of the necessary ingredients we could have a batch ready for testing. Within a year we will have moved onto human testing so when we eventually get around to having a child it will be, maybe not common but certainly not unheard of."

"That is groundbreaking medical science. Are you certain the government would give you the green light to test it or even to produce and distribute it?"

"Yes. They already did once. Besides spreading a few rumors about a new miracle drug will prevent them from covering it up and they will be forced to acknowledge and allow distribution once it passes medical trials. Either way its millions of dollars for something that costs about forty dollars in ingredients and even less to actually process and create."

"Not to mention the demand for male birth control once the child is born, unless the womb destroys itself."

"Exactly."

"You said you know Batman. That means you know who he is?"

"Yes I know exactly who he is, I also know you know who he is. I would enjoy you inviting him over for an introduction, but I can make one myself if you don't want involved."

"He wouldn't be available until Wednesday at the earliest. His weekends are full."

"I know. I have a busy few days anyways. I have to change that gold which is going to take me all day tomorrow.." Lex interrupted him.

"I can do it for you. If you have the raw gold available I can have a man from the international treasury here by dawn and you can have a check or a direct deposit within an hour." he offered, nonchalantly.

Clark smiled at him getting a quirk of lips back. "I would appreciate it Lex. I have my laptop and can create the appropriate background for my wealthy yet reclusive European parents who died tragically while on vacation during the meteor shower. It will only take a few minutes to falsify the actual physical records in New York. There is a law office there that is international and can have conveniently misfiled the paperwork for a few years. I used them a few times in my past life when I needed to conveniently inherit some money. Once the Justice League was a known entity it was no longer an issue and I could simply sell the gold and gems I found as my Superman persona but he is not established yet."

"Well just be here by six in the morning then. Do you have a convenient account or can you create one by then?"

"Yes. I have had over a hundred years to learn technology and have hacked systems much more advanced. If all else fails I can use my ships computer."

"You actually have your space ship?"

"Yes. It is technically a pod, it was only big enough to transfer my baby and toddler self while in stasis. I will be moving it to my fortress as soon as I have it triggered to build. If you are helping with the gold I will have time to collect all the parts tomorrow at super-speed and it will be up and operational by Sunday."

"May I see it once its built?"

"Yes. It will be in the arctic but I can adjust the temperature to suit you until your physiology changes, if it changes."

"What are you building it out of?"

"Technically it is all ready built. It is stored inside a crystal and is a building made of crystal technology. It is a repository of the Kryptonian Archives, it holds all of the knowledge of the universe. The crystal of knowledge was separated into three pieces and sent back in time and spread through the earth I know the exact coordinates of two of the stones and once I have them I can set off a resonating frequency and follow it to the third. Genevieve Teague has been searching for the stones for years as has your father. It is going to be amusing watching them scramble to find them even more when they get my summons."

"What summons?" Lex leaned back, curiosity shining in his eyes.

"The one I am going to give to Veritas once my fortress is built. I will demand each of them and their children come for a meeting. No doubt they will attempt to circumvent me, to outsmart me so they can gain control of me but they will fail."

"My father is going to be very displeased. I would wait until after you gain control of the factory."

"I will. I have a few more people to recruit first as well."

"What do you mean?" Lex leaned forward again.

"Well I am sure you realize the kryptonite is capable of altering people. It gave you a healing ability that is frankly astounding. It has altered others as well. My best friend ever is capable of bringing people back from the brink of death but she pays a price. Every time she heals someone it makes her sick and if the injury or sickness is life threatening it kills her for a little while. She doesn't know it yet though. Cyrus another gifted is also capable of healing anything so I want him as the Justice League healer. I have him staying the night at my place and he and Chloe will be back there soon. There is a girl Alicia who can teleport through anything but lead. Tina can shift into anyone or create someone new. Another boy from class can move things with his mind. He is in the hospital now so I intend to take Chloe and Cryus to him to heal him so he is up and around and no longer suffering.

The only issue with them all is the kryptonite while giving them powers also causes an imbalance in the chemicals in their brains. There is a type of kryptonite that cures the imbalance while leaving them their powers. It is blue and I know where a huge deposit of it is, and my fortress will have even more. All that is needed is to run some purified water through it or let it soak in it and then they can have a glass of water. One dose is enough to cure them permanently."

"Do I have the imbalance?" Lex questioned.

"I am not sure. Your father drugged you into a mental breakdown once. You were unstable but kept yourself under control well enough a few times in later years. A dose won't hurt you if you aren't unstable so it might be a good idea to try it. Besides it tastes really clean and fresh. I can't drink it often but there were times when I just needed a break and would mix up some and drink it for about a week strait for a vacation from hearing everything in the world. It only takes a few hours to wear off on me so it was a nice break."

"If you tell me where the deposit is I can send someone to collect it now. They don't have to know why. I will just tell them I want it."

"It is better if you send a team. The area where the deposit is has some crazy deliverance type quakers who live there. They believe that the blue K is stones from god and if they give god a human sacrifice each year their crops will continue to grow. Its because their crops were failing them and their people were sick until the day of the meteor shower and the rocks killed one of the girls in the middle of town. Since then they haven't had any trouble with crops. They think its the human sacrifice but in reality its the blue k."

"Alright I will send an armed team to collect enough to fill a barrel. How long does the water need to soak?"

"About twenty-four hours." Clark gave Lex the directions for the quaker settlement and Lex called the head of a team that worked in his science department but was actually loyal to him. He ordered a twenty man team to get enough of the blue K to fill a truck. Clark smiled, he had almost forgotten how quickly Lex acted when he decided to get something done.

"Alright. If you are here in the morning they should be back by then. I will have clear plastic bottles purchased by then and the rocks will be back. I can have a filtration station set up by then. I will have the water processing and it should be ready by Monday. At least a hundred bottles."

"Alright. I will get a few of the first batch to pass out to those I can think of off the top of my head. If you make enough the next Saturday will be a farmers market and I will pay you for what you have and pass out free bottles of ice cold water. More than half the town is gifted in some way so the faster we can get them all treated the better."

"That sounds admirable. I can have a few hundred bottles done by then. If I get help I can have a couple thousand."

"It depends on if you trust your help. I am sure Cyrus and I could help. My mom could for a bit each day, but she also works at delivering the produce for the farm so she can't help all the time. Chloe has the 'Torch' and I can get her to make a discrete announcement about the drink. Everyone who actively knows about their gift reads the Torch. It is the freak pride paper." he chuckled.

"What do you mean?"

"Well to be honest Chloe is all but genius. She is able to piece together clues from little to nothing and her hypothesis are almost always correct. In my previous time line she was a journalist for a bit before due to our fights you had her blacklisted so she took up a job with the Justice League. She became known as Watchtower and she was our eyes and ears on missions and she found a lot of the problems we fought. She was also the person who found Batman and Wonder woman. She recruited half the JLA. She eventually married Ollie. Other than you her death hurt me the most. But she is the new editor of the student paper, The Torch. If the government actually kept up with her paper they would have a lot more understanding of what is actually going on. Everyone who actually realizes what is going on reads the Torch, or they will. The Jr High version was Chloe's but it only printed once a month. The high school version comes out weekly."

"So the gifted as you call them, they keep up with whats going on?"

"Yes, normally. Everyone thinks they are alone, and those that know of others don't talk. Chloe has a list or she will have a list and at one point it gets stolen by a guy who starts hunting them all. It also gets stolen by your father who uses it to kidnap several of them and experiment on them. For a bit there, while he is drugging you, you had your own experiments. After that you only took volunteers because the JLA caught on to what was happening and broke out all of the prisoners and blew up your labs. There was several billion in damages and lost information. You were pissed until your dad died and the drugs cleared and then you shut down the few we had missed and paid reparations."

"So we need to make sure she doesn't write a list or if she does that we can keep it protected."

"Yes I am going to talk to her tonight when I talk to Cyrus. My hope is that Cyrus can fix what is wrong in her that hurts her when she heals others. And every child that she had Cyrus is going to be at the birth." he finished the last part sadly.

"Is that how she died, giving birth?"

"Yes. With all the danger in our lives we all expected to be killed in battle and loosing her like that, in such a normal if horrible way was a shock to us all. Ollie stopped being Green Arrow because he didn't want to leave his children without at least one parent. He was killed four years later with both children. I drank Blue K water for three months after I caught and destroyed the guy who did it. I just couldn't handle saving people when I wasn't able to save her. Even your other self backed off for a while out of respect."

"Who is Ollie?" Lex questioned cautiously.

"Oliver Queen."

"He died almost two years ago. His yacht disappeared, they think it sank."

"It did, but he is alive. In about ten months he will be rescued, or well, rescue himself I guess. For about a year he will get back into the swing of things before he will join the Brotherhood, who are the best archers in the world and they will teach him a lot. When he finally gets away from them after about a year the Green Arrow will show up in Starling City. He is very vigilante for a while, or he was, but I intend to recruit him when he finally gets back for good. The JLA will already be up and running by then and having him back will be good. I know you two have your differences but you are going to have to get along. Especially if we are going to get your dad for the murder of the Queens."

"I can be polite, but don't bother expecting more than that."

"Well if it is the best I can hope for. I will handle all negotiations with Queen Industries for Rao then." he chuckled while Lex arched an eyebrow at him.

"It is getting late and I still have another conversation to have tonight so I need to go. One last thing though, everyone else, including my parents are being told everything I know is from a genetic memory so don't mention time travel to them. I don't want them to know everything that happened because I don't know quite how they will take it."

"Alright. Are you going to tell them about me, about what we might be to each other?"

"My parents know. I had to give them some thing for a reason that I wanted you around. My dad isn't happy but will tolerate you for me and my mom just wants me happy so expect her to try and feed you a lot. Its how she shows she cares."

"And your friends?"

"If you choose me they they will be apprised if not then they will simply believe we are friends or business associates if you choose not to have any sort of closeness."

"That is acceptable. Even if we do not become romantic I think I would like to be friends Clark."

Clark smiled as he stood. "I'm glad. Even if you don't choose me I want to be able to be close to you Lex." he shook the offered hand and headed towards the doors before pausing.

"Hey Lex?" he called causing the bald man to turn to him.

Lex looked up from where he had moved to his desk.

"Friends don't need thanks for saving your life." he smirked and tossed the keys to the older man. Lex looked at them in shock as though they were not what he expected and Clark smiled at him before taking off at full speed towards home.

* * *

><p>AN: Sorry for the long wait guys. My muse abandoned me but she is back for now. I have another chapter in the works so we shall see how quick I can get it out.<p> 


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary:** Clark watches the last person who truly knew him, Lex Luthor, finally die. Alone and adrift immortality looms ahead of him and he wonders why he must go it alone. Jor-el says it is because he turned against his soul holder or soul mate as humans would say. Turns out Lex wasn't meant to be his enemy but his lover. Clark is given the chance to go back and try again from the very beginning. Can he change the way things happened, can he truly give himself to the one man who could easily break him or will old insecurities hold him locked into a future he doesn't truly want.

**Warnings:** Male/male slash, strong language, less restrained Clark, murder, and spoilers.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing but the plot, though I am sure someone has done something similar at least once before.

**Chapter Five**

Clark made it to his parents farm in under a minute. He spotted Chloe's little beetle in the driveway and heard her and Cyrus in his loft in the barn. He headed quickly into the house to let his parent know he was home. They were curled up on the couch watching the evening news together.

"Clark, welcome home. How did it go?" his mother asked.

"It went well. I will be going back in the morning. Lex is calling in an international precious metals buyer who will be here in the morning. It will be easier than handling it myself. I am going to set it up so that it seems like an inheritance. There were several people from out of town who were killed in the meteor shower. I can easily create a paper trail of a couple that is from out of the country. I know its illegal but its the only way I can think of. In order to get the money it has to have come from somewhere and this is the best way I can find. I wont be stealing it, I will have earned it all, it will just be a fake death and birth certificate."

"I don't know how I feel about that son. Its breaking the law." his dad said, his back straightening and his jaw firming.

"In order to save lives I have to kill off a fictional person. Besides this way Lionel Luthor won't have a leg to stand on. I know you are worried but this is the safest thing for our family. It will pay off the farm and start the company I need to introduce medical and technological advancements that will save lives. It is already going to happen but whether I make money off of environmentally sound and people conscious practices, or I sell them to a company who I can't ensure will do so depends on this."

"Oh Clark." his mom moaned. "We just worry this is a lot of change very fast. Your father and I just want to be sure you know what you are getting into."

"I know mom, and I do love that you worry about me. I know what is coming and I know it won't be easy but it will be possible. I will need a good Personal Assistant though, if you would be willing I would pay really well." he grinned.

His parents laughed and his mom swatted at him as he grinned and hurried at human speed up to his room to change into a pair of his flannel pajama bottoms and a simple white t-shirt. He grabbed his laptop and stopped by the kitchen where his mom was just finishing a thermos of hot chocolate. She had a plate of muffins as well and he thanked her before heading out to the barn where light was shining from the loft. Chloe was on his couch working on an article for the torch and Cyrus was at his telescope checking out the night sky.

"Mom made hot chocolate and muffins if you guys want any." he offered the thermos and paper cups and the plate of muffins.

"Oh yum, I love your mom's hot chocolate." Chloe made grabby hands towards the thermos with a laugh while Cyrus moved over towards the two.

Once they all had a drink and were settled around the coffee table Chloe spoke.

"Alright Clark, I have waited long enough. Now give me some answers cause the last couple of days everything has just been questions. Like why are we here but Pete isn't?"

"Calm down Chloe, I will give you your answers but this is off the record, you understand."

She pouted at him but sighed in agreement when he didn't budge.

"First off I know about your theory about the meteor infected and I can honestly say you are correct. I can also say that you should never, under any circumstances make a list of those you know or suspect. Very soon a lot of powerful people are going to become interested in those of you who have gifts, and not in a good way."

"You just said those of you, I am not infected." Chloe pointed at him and shook her finger like he was a naughty child.

"Actually Chloe, you are. You and your mother were driving through Smallville the day of the shower. You were given the ability to heal but unlike Cyrus, there is a defect in your gift. Anytime you heal someone it is going to take a price from you. I think that if Cyrus is there when you go to heal someone he will be able to heal your defect at the same time allowing you to heal others with no side effects like him."

Chloe paled as he spoke before turning speculative eyes on the thin pale boy next to her. He waved at her before slouching back into the couch with a blush.

"Well how do you suggest we test your hypothesis oh wise one, and how do you know anyways?"

"As for how to test, I suggest Justin Gaines. His hands were crushed along with a few more injuries. I think you should heal his hands while Cyrus works on you. Its not a life threatening injury so if this doesn't work you will just be weak for a day or so, maybe achy like you have the flu. As to how I know, that is a bit less believable."

"Well I am waiting." she urged when he didn't speak for a few minutes.

"The meteors that hit Smallville and caused the changes in people were not random space rocks. They were detritus of a planet, an occupied planet called Krypton. Krypton was a race very like humans but several thousand years older. They were already more advanced than earth is now by the time the earth came into existence. Their planet became unstable due to a mad man by the name of Zod. Zod created a device to destroy his own home and all the people on it which would only activate if he didn't give commands at a certain time. When he was captured and imprisoned for his crimes against Krypton and several other races he was unable to send the codes. A renowned scientist by the name of Jor El caught the frequency of the device as it moved towards Krypton's core and he attempted to get the ruling council of which he was a member to acknowledge the danger and evacuate the planet. They refused to see reason, not believing they could be outsmarted so badly and they forbid him from telling the public on threat of death for he and his family. They also forbid him and his wife from leaving the planet. Jor El kept silent to protect his wife and newborn son but he built a small escape pod in secret, just large enough to hold his new born son and the day the explosions started he activated the ship and placed me inside with my target as Earth. I know all of this because a genetic download was triggered a couple of days ago which gave me all of the knowledge I now hold. And also because of my spaceship in the storm cellar." he finished jokingly.

Chloe sat in silence for a moment longer before the questions came pouring out.

"Do you really look like this or is it a hologram? Are there any more of you on earth? Are there anymore planets with other races out there? Do you have any powers? Are you biologically compatible with humans? Why do the rocks cause mutations? What sorts of mutations do they cause? Does Pete know?"

He laughed out loud at her enthusiasm. "Calm down Chlo'. Wow, one at a time. First off this is me, I look exactly as I am. So far as I know my cousin Kara crash landed here at the same time I did but her ship crashed and kept her in stasis. I need to find her and will as soon as I can but I have a lot going on right now and need to focus on that first since she isn't in any danger. There are tons of planets with several races each. I have a lot of powers including super strength and speed. I can light fires with my eyes and I can fly. I have others as well including the ability to bear children for my mirror, or what you would call soul mate. As for why the rocks cause mutations it has to do with radiation and the chemicals in the brain. Some are lucky enough to be gifted and others will have to worry about cancer. You know five kids in our class have died of cancer since the meteor shower and over twenty-five still student age since then. That isn't counting the adults that have gotten sick and died. Everyone blames the Luthor Corp Plant and while Lionel's illegal dumping might have contributed the majority are from the meteors. As to the mutations they are as many and varied as the people who have them. For your last question, Pete isn't here because Pete doesn't like things that are different. If they don't fit into the Pete Ross approved column then he disapproves. I love Pete but in all honesty I think aliens and super-powers are more than he is ready to handle."

"I don't want Pete to know about me." Cyrus spoke up. "If you tell him about you that is fine but Pete, while a good guy is a follower. If he is told gifted people are bad or freaks, then to him we will be freaks. Clark is trying to build a life for us that is safe and accepting. I want that."

"Alright I can see where you are coming from but Pete has been your best friend since grade school. I just want the option of telling him if it comes to that."

"I can agree but never speak of it in public and never ever write or type it anywhere. I don't care if you have a USB that you carry everywhere or a pentagon level computer, you don't make any record of me or any of the others unless they are caught and already public record."

"Alright, I swear. Now if I am gifted, like you claim, tell me how to access it." she demanded.

Cyrus spoke up then. "Mine is like a light that flows through my whole body. I focus on the light and push it from my hands and then run them over the wound or if someone is sick then I run it over all of them. I cured a kid with cancer a couple years ago while he was asleep. His name was Mike and he moved away with his parents cause they thought Luthor Corp had made him sick. I turned on my light and I pushed it through his body all up and down until he felt clean. I don't know how else to describe it. Illness or wounds feel dirty and I use my light to scrub until the grime is gone."

Clark moved to his desk to begin building an electronic trail for his parents Lara and James Elton. He was used to having to bypass much more complicated systems so creating a birth certificate and back story for his parents and grandparents on both sides was relatively easy. He created a record of them having owned a home which was sold and the funds given to the estate. His 'mother' had three tickets on record and his 'father had his appendix removed when he was eight. His mother was wealthy and his father was very smart, having worked as a systems designer for a large conglomerate. An easily ignored cog in the wheel except for his performance reviews. He added them and himself to old flight manifests for a vacation to America for a work conference in Metropolis and he made certain to put them and their will in the system for the law office he wanted to deal with. His final touch was setting up an account and back dating it for several years. That was harder than the others but he managed it and left behind no trace. Monday morning an alert would trigger that their heir was found and most likely that very day he would receive a call, and a visit not long after.

By the time he was finished Chloe was able to call her light to her hand and all three of them were exhausted. He ushered them into the house where Chloe headed to the guest room and Cyrus crashed out on a blow up mattress in Clark's room. Both would be going with him in the morning, though Chloe knew she wouldn't be able to interview Lex.

Morning came very early for Clark as he hurried through his chores while his friends woke up. Chloe was all but incoherent until she had her coffee and Cyrus was like every other teenager alive and not a morning person. A simple breakfast of buttered toast and some fruit and they took Chloe's bug to the castle where Lex's current security guy let them in. Clark led the way to Lex's office with the duffel full of gold and Lex and his expert met them. Lex had coffee and danishes for them and Clark smiled at him while the gold dealer had kittens over the pure metal in the bag. It turned out being just over five million and he completed an immediate transfer to the account Clark had set up the night before and then he left almost skipping. Once the guy was gone Lex motioned for Clark to check the room which was thankfully still absent bugs before he spoke.

"I had the set up for the Blue K water set up in a room down the hall. I have enough for about ten bottles that I boiled with the Blue K to process it more quickly and its ready. I am about to have a bottle and I have enough for both of you." he offered to Chloe and Cyrus.

"But I thought Kryptonite was bad. We just discussed this last night." Chloe questioned. Clark quickly explained about the crazy caused by the green K and how the Blue K fixed that problem. One bottle will fix you for life. I am going to leave you guys after you have your bottles cause I have some stuff to do today but if everything goes well I will be back by about three this afternoon and we can meet up if you want."

"Alright, but what about Justin, are we doing that today?" Chloe asked.

"If I get back in time yes. If not we might have to hold off until tomorrow or sneak in tonight. I also want to get some Blue K in Alicia this weekend. Curing her crazy will be good for us until we are more established."

"Alright. Cyrus you wanna hang with me today. I will be finishing up the Torch for most of the day."

"I need to stop and get clean clothes and take a shower at my foster home but yeah hanging out sounds fun."

Lex led the way as they talked and he questioned them each politely and asked if he could accompany them to deal with Justin. They all agreed it was acceptable. Lex led them to the room Clark had taken to thinking of as the Shrine in his last life. It had held a huge picture of him as well as several other artifacts and pieces of proof. He was glad Lex wasn't going that route this time. Instead there were several large wine caskets filled with water and with a good chunk of Blue K in each. Clark could feel the effects of being in the room surrounded by the stone and he checked each of the barrels to ensure they were all purifying correctly. The last bit was set up like a mad scientist lad with beakers and tubes all connected and there were eight bottles of water set in a small glass front fridge. The water had a very slight blue tinge that humans would miss but he saw easily and he sat back as the three cheered each other and downed the ice cold water quickly.

"How do we know if it worked?" Cyrus questioned.

"It will take a bit but if you were already affected your mind will clear and you will be able to recognize any irrationality. If you weren't affected then nothing will change." Clark answered.

He took a moment to smile at Lex as they all headed back out and Lex nodded at him.

"Thank you for this Lex, it means a lot."

"It is no trouble. It cost maybe two hundred for the men to gather the rocks and about the same for the supplies because I already had most of it on hand. So little to save so many minds is worth it."

"Well I will pay you back for it as soon as the lawyer contacts me with the news of my inheritance."

"Its no problem Clark. Just let me know if you will be visiting Mr Gaines today. I can meet you there or pick you up, which ever."

"Alright. I will let you know." he smiled as he watched his friends get in Chloe's bug and take off and with a final smile and after making sure no one was around to see he lifted off slowly and with a smile at Lex's awed expression he took off.

He made it to China in under half an hour, still not at full speed, and the temple just a few moments later. He couldn't remember which tree it was exactly so he x-rayed from the air and once spotting it he dove down and drove his fist deep into the soil before taking off into the sky with the stone clasped in his fist. He knew the general coordinates for the stone in Egypt and with his x-ray it didn't take long to find the hidden temple. Again it only took a few minutes, and only that long to ensure he didn't damage anything else as he collected the stone.

Another flight across the ocean and to the cave where he made his way to the hidden chamber with his ship key and settled the stones one by one on the stone table. A bit of work with the alien tech and the insistent ringing echoed through the air. It was almost painful and he took off at full speed landing in Ireland and with a bit more work he unearthed the stone for water and took off again. It was almost noon by the time he landed back in the cave and joined the final stone to complete the crystal.

Like the first time it triggered the pulsing light and whirling vortex but he could hear a whistling in the distance and was slightly surprised when in just a minute his ship sped to him right as the portal fully formed and he, the crystal, and his ship were transported to the frozen arctic. The ship stayed floating next to him as he picked up the crystal and threw it through the air.

It only took about five minutes for the fortress to form and he led the still floating ship across the snow and to the fortress. Once inside the building lit up and Clark moved the ship over to a docking station that he remembered. It was funny to watch the ship 'download' into the fortress but he moved quickly to cut off the AI of his father before it could start in on him taking over the world. He moved a few of the preset commands on the console to trigger the fortress into understanding what exactly had happened.

"Greetings Kal El, son of Jor El. Welcome. My systems read that you have already completed all training parameters and my sensors from you ship indicate a massive spike of energy matching with a time jump occurred three earth days ago. Is this correct?"

"It is."

"Then you are ahead of scheduled time from where it was suspected you would be. What are your orders Kal El?"

"For now I do not have many. What is the time frame for you you to have infiltrated the human technological systems?"

"I have already begun. Total assimilation should occur within 27 earth hours."

"Very well once that is done I need a group of people found. They are the original members of the Justice Society of America. Carter Hall as an immediate interest. I also need a boy around my age who goes by Davis Bloom found. Bloom is the incarnate Doomsday created by Zod. I have the knife to destroy him completely but I need him found. He will not activate for a few years yet but I would like to find him before he does."

"The entity Doomsday is indeed a threat. Carter Hall and the JSA should be relatively simple to find. Would like like the information sent to you or would you like it held here for your perusal?"

"Keep it here. Checkmate, the human government group who took them down will need to be dealt with so make certain your searches trigger nothing and leave no clues."

"Very well Kal El. Do you have any other commands?"

"Yes, I need a concentrated Blue K serum to cancel out the powers that are deadly to the wielder and any near them. Most will not need it but my memory gives me more than a few who become a danger to themselves simply to survive their own mutation."

"Synthesizing a serum will take 32 earth hours. I shall place it in a dart to be fired from a human tranquilizer gun. Twenty darts to start with in a thin lead casing so that you might carry them with no ill effects."

"Good, that works well. The last thing I need is for you to track down the Kryptonian Dax Ur. He resides on this planet and I would like his assistance in creating a way to defeat his creation Brainiac."

"I will find Dax Ur."

"Alright that is all I have for you just now. I need to take my leave I will use the portal back to Smallville."

Clark moved to the transporter console and with simple insertion of the key he was back in the Kawatchie caves. It was almost two in the afternoon and he was dirty from everything he had done so far that day so he headed to the farm and took a shower after having lunch. He called Chloe who was with Cyrus at the Beanery, which he had almost forgotten about. He promised to meet them there and then called Lex who agreed to meet them as well.

Clark said goodbye to his parents and headed into town to the coffee shop that he planned to put out of business very soon. Chloe was waiting with Cyrus and as Clark spotted them he notice how relaxed the smaller boy seemed. His tense shoulders and nervous manner were gone and his ever present hunching to hide himself was gone as well. Clark ordered a simple coffee and headed over to the two to wait on Lex.

Cyrus spoke to him with his eyes bright. "You were right Clark, Blue juice helped. I hadn't even realized how twitchy and paranoid I had gotten until I wasn't anymore."

"He is right Clark it took about two hours to show but he has changed so much in the past few hours its crazy. Blue juice is awesome. I haven't changed any that I can tell but I put a little advert in the paper about the water which I just called Blue, I am going to get as many bottles as Lex can spare and keep them in the mini-fridge in the Torch Office. I suspect I will have a few visitors this week. I even printed out a few labels for the water so it looks like an actual product so that the teachers and staff don't argue against it."

"That is awesome Chloe and Cyrus, I and so happy for you man. Lex will be glad too."

"What will Lex be glad about?" the voice of the bald billionaire sounded from behind him. He turned and found Lex in black slacks and a gray fitted cashmere sweater with his hand loosely in his pockets. It was a familiar image and one Clark found very comforting.

"Blue helped me Mr Luthor." Cyrus smiled brightly at him as he motioned for the older man to join them.

Lex looked him over as he sat next to Clark.

"I can see that. Do you feel clearer?"

"Yes. I havent felt this good in months. I hadn't even realized I was changing but I feel so much better now."

"Well that is good. We will certainly keep an eye out but Clark seems to think it was enough for life so here is to hoping."

"Good now what exactly is our plan?" Chloe sat forward, bringing them all in together closely to prevent anyone from overhearing.

"We are just going to visit a classmate for us three and Lex is along as a friend."

"I also have my Land Rover so we can all ride together and I have a bottle of Blue, is that what we are calling it?"

"Fantastic we can all ride together. And as to the name yes, Chloe coined it and put a small add in the Torch. She also created a lable for it we just have to attach the labels to the bottles."

"Fantastic. Shall we go?" Lex stood and they all followed him out to the SUV. Clark took the front seat where a small cooler sat on the floor with a bottle of Blue. The bottle was different from the ones that morning. It was about as round as a regular bottle but instead of being shaped with curves and hand holds it was strait like a round canister. It was made out of clear glass and about eight inches tall. Chloe had a sample of the labels and she slipped it on and the natural adhesive sealed it closed. The drive to Metropolis was only about 2 hours long at the speeds Lex was driving and they all chatted amicably the whole way.

Justin was in the childrens hospital and was just being settled into his room for the evening when they arrived. They had stopped and gotten fast food for him as an extra excuse for the nurses and while they gave disapproving glares they let them all in. Cyrus shut the door to Justins room while the other teen was greeting Chloe.

"Not that I am not glad for visitors, but I must say you are not the group I imagined." he quipped.

"There is a reason for us being here besides just visiting Justin." Chloe said quickly and eagerly. Clark stepped in when Justin began to look distrusting.

"Justin things have changed for you since you accident haven't they? You can do things, things that you don't talk about because you are afriad you might be going crazy?"

"How do you know about that?" Justin questioned sharply.

"Because you aren't the only one who can do things." Cyrus interupted. "Chloe and I are healers and Clark is a whole lot more."

"We are here because we thing that I can heal your hands or at least fix them more than surgery alone can. We just need you to let us try." Chloe offered eagerly gesturing to Justin's bandaged appendages where they lay limply in his lap.

"You think you can heal me?" he questioned disbelievingly.

"Mr Gaines, truthfully you have nothing to loose. If we are crazy and nothing happens you are no worse off than you were before but if it works, even if it doesn't work all the way, you will be a little better and will have more mobility than the doctors are saying you will now."

"Your Lex Luthor." just said unhelpfully. He was clearly not handling it well so Clark motioned for both Chloe and Cyrus to get into position.

Chloe smiled at Justin as she moved her hands to cover his gently so as not to hurt him and Cyrus moved in behind her ready to light up as soon as she did. He would heal her while she healed Justin.

Clark and Lex stood back and watched as Chloe's hands lit with light. Clark caught to look of amazement on Lex's face before he noticed Chloe paling before Cyrus lit up as well and focused on her heart and head. Clark could almost see the switch as Chloe began looking stronger even as Justin looked on in awe. Cyrus stopped after a minute while Chloe kept going until Justin was moving his hands freely under the wrappings and cast.

When Chloe stopped and opened her eyes Justin was looking at her in awe and she just smiled as Lex moved forward and passed her and Cyrus regular water and passed Justin the bottle of Blue. The bottles were all the same but like before the Blue had a slight tint that human eyes couldn't see but Clark could.

Justin drank a few swallows before setting his water down and unwrapping his hands on his own. There weren't even any marks from the countless surgeries or from the accident. Clark x-rayed the hands and wrists to find the bones and muscles and ligaments all in perfect condition. There weren't even any plates or pins that should have been there.

"Chloe you even got rid of the pins and plates. Truly healed, like it never happened." Clark smiled at his friend.

"Awesome. Cyrus I felt when what you were doing clicked. I could feel myself weakening but when you started it was like something changed in the energy patterns and suddenly I wasn't pulling in bad to replace what I was sending out. I felt it heal."

"That is amazing. Truly amazing." Lex offered. Now I will call in a favor and have a doctor I know here in half an hour to release you. Obviously we can not have anyone too interested in your miraculous recovery Mr Gaines. You three finish your water, stuff like this takes it out of you. I will call Doctor Hamilton."

Clark could barely hold his surprise at that. Emil Hamilton was the original JLA doctor. They couldn't use Chloe unless it was life or death because of her dying when she healed others and the doctor was the best they had. To find out Lex knew him was a bit of a surprise. Clark wondered at a few times when Emil had come up with cures that were amazing and no one knew where he had gotten them, always with an answer about a colleague who was a scientist. Clark wondered how many times Lex had saved one of the JLA without them knowing. More proof he wasn't evil.

He made certain Justin drank all of his Blue K water and helped them all pack up Justin's things while they waited on Emil to arrive. When he did Lex explained that one of the teens had a natural healing factor but they didn't want them taken by the government and experiment on and would Emil do what needed to be done to prevent that. Emil agreed and within and hour they were on their way back to Smallville. They stopped at a drive-thru and Lex marveled at the McDonalds cheese burger and fries before agreeing it was good tasting if not necessarily good for them.

Half way through the drive Justin made a comment about how he could think clearly for the first time in a while and Clark let Cyrus explain the Blue K water while he simply basked in Lex's arm resting next to his on the center console close enough to touch his. He smiled at Lex before bringing up the idea for the JLA. Chloe immediately claimed her place in the freak brigade and Cyrus said he was in and Justin after thinking it over said they would all need some sort of self defense training which meant he was in.

"I have designs for outfits in my head and I will see about getting them drawn out. As for self defence I am looking into finding someone to help with that but we have to be very careful about this. There was a group about fifteen or twenty years ago that called themselves the Justice Society of America and they did much like I want us to do just on a smaller scale. There was a group created by extremists in the government called Checkmate who tried to recruit them as super assassins and operatives. The JSA refused and Checkmate targeted them head on. They falsified records and framed them all for crimes they didn't commit. They ruined them and more than half of them, when they tried to fight back, were killed. I am working on a way to neutralize Checkmate but until I can at least get them declawed we cant mention this to anyone and no writing it down anywhere."

"Alright, I can do that. I can also star working on a comic series which tells the story. I can get a few ready and if you like them then I can get them published anonymously in the Planet. If the public thinks of Checkmate, a fictional agency, as the bad guys then when Checkmate makes a move publicly then they will be shut down."

"That is actually a brilliant idea. I like the way you think Mr Gaines." Lex smirked at him in the mirror.

"You can call me Justin. It seems weird for Lex Luthor to be calling me Mr Gaines." the newly healed teen smiled as he casually slipped his arm around Chloe. Clark hid his chuckle because that was such a teenage move. Lex smirked at him too.

It took almost three hours to get back to Smallville and it was dark when they did. They dropped Justin off at his house where his parents were waiting. They had been so excited about hearing he was being released even though they didn't understand anything besides that it was a miracle. They dropped Chloe off at her car on main street and then Lex took Clark and Cyrus back to the farm where his parents were waiting.

"Hello Lex, I am Martha."

"Hello Mrs Kent."

Clark watched as they greeted each other and made small talk before his mom invited Lex for Sunday dinner the next day and he accepted. Lex took his leave a few minutes later and Clark hurried through his chores while Cyrus set up his bag in the guest room where Chloe had spent the night before. Lex had said he would move to get Clark's parents temporary custody of Cyrus until he came of age so the guest room was his until further notice. Lex would have the approval ready on Monday especially since thanks to Lionel his parents already were approved by the state.

They would get the rest of Cyrus's things when the paperwork came through and a case worker would be by to visit. Clark finished his chores and took his final shower of the day before switching back into his pajamas and finally crawling into bed, satisfied with his days work.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary:** Clark watches the last person who truly knew him, Lex Luthor, finally die. Alone and adrift immortality looms ahead of him and he wonders why he must go it alone. Jor-el says it is because he turned against his soul holder or soul mate as humans would say. Turns out Lex wasn't meant to be his enemy but his lover. Clark is given the chance to go back and try again from the very beginning. Can he change the way things happened, can he truly give himself to the one man who could easily break him or will old insecurities hold him locked into a future he doesn't truly want.

**Warnings:** Male/male slash, strong language, less restrained Clark, murder, and spoilers.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing but the plot, though I am sure someone has done something similar at least once before.

**Chapter Six**

The next morning Cyrus helped a sick cow with his gift which made Jonathan happy. They had thought they were going to loose her so his help was appreciated. Cyrus was given the chore of helping pick fruit from their organic orchard while Clark went about his daily chores at top speed and did more besides. He helped Cyrus finish his chore before they headed in to wash off and get ready for the day. His mom had called Mr Sullivan who had to work but promised to send Chloe over for Sunday Lunch and Clark called Justin whose parents had gone out of town for work and who was glad for the offer to join.

Everyone including Lex got there around noon, each having brought something and they settled down to a meal of roasted chicken and all of the fixings. The topic over lunch was calm. Martha posed the question about Justin being healed, she was friends with Justin's mother and had heard how dire things looked. Clark was surprised at Chloe openly admitting she had healed him. Martha was very impressed and Cyrus asked if he could give both Martha and Jonathan a scan after lunch.

"But we aren't sick Cyrus." His dad said.

"But cancer and heart disease are common in Smallville due to the Kryptonite. If I catch it early I can stop it."

"I think its a good idea. Its no different than a physical dad, it can't hurt."

"Jonathan you remember what Doctor Robbins said. Your heart is weak, maybe Chloe or Cyrus can help." his mom cajoled. Eventually he agreed and they finished their meal in peace. Clark mentioned offhand several of the teens he knew to have powers, starting with Tina Greer and Alicia. He knew getting the most dangerous ones help first was a priority. Lex gave a nod indicating that he caught on to what Clark was saying. Justin mentioned the little bit that he remembered from the license from the car that hit him and said he had told his parents who had called the police.

"They should have something by Friday at the latest. I hope they can catch the guy."

"I am sure they will. Its not like Smallville is that large."

"I just want to make sure what happened to me doesn't happen to anyone else. I mean what if they can't be healed."

"That is a good point." Clark agreed. He already knew it was principle Kwan's son but he couldn't just say that.

Once lunch was finished Clark showed off a bit by super-speeding through the dishes while Cyrus taught Chloe how to find something wrong even if she couldn't see it. They both found the weakness in his dads heart but it was Chloe who found his moms barren womb.

"I can feel how to fix it Mrs K, but I want to make sure you want it fixed first. I don't know if you still want a baby now."

His mom looked at his dad and they both had a look of joy on their faces before she turned nervously to him.

"Do it mom, you deserve it. I won't mind a baby around. And besides the farm will be paid off soon and all the debt cleared, and you will have a comfortable cushion in the accounts so affording the baby will be easy." he added, making sure they knew that worry was gone.

It didn't take much for her to agree and Chloe lit up joyfully while Cyrus worked on his father. Once they were done they all headed out to the loft to begin making plans.

"I want to purchase the old Talon theatre and turn it into a coffee shop. There is a space above it that is perfect as a meeting place and home base, at least until we can find or build something better."

"I can do it Clark." Lex offered.

"It would look good with the towns people. We want them to know you are different from your father and a public reworking of a historic building would bring you a bit of good press." Chloe offered.

"What I want to know is what exactly are we going to be doing?" Justin said, joining the conversation.

"Right now, not too much. I plan to get involved in Gotham to help the Batman clean up his streets and I will spend a bit of time in Metropolis as well. I can put out fires and catch vehicles that are our of control. Common criminals cant hurt me so I can interfere in that as well. As for Cyrus and Chloe, well that is up to you two. You can wear masks and help at hospitals or man the system I am going to be setting up. Chloe I honestly think you would be very good at being Watchtower. My fortress can teach you advanced hacking and systems navigation in a few hours. It has an interactive construct that will link with you and it allows you to learn in a few hours what it takes everyone else years to learn. Plus Chloe, you have a knack for finding the root of a problem and the bast way to fix it that I can't duplicate."

"Can I do both?" she asked.

"Yeah I like helping people. I wouldn't go to a hospital without backup though. If we do it enough someone is going to talk about the miracle workers and I don't want to be taken and dissected by Checkmate or any one else."

Lex nodded. "That is sound thinking. I would suggest you only help people on your own in a life or death emergency. Otherwise you should only go if Clark is with you, or Justin once he gets more training."

"I will have outfits, at least basic ones, very soon. You will be able to change them if you don't like the colors or something but I wouldn't sew your own. I have access to Kryptonian fabric which while not kevlar is still more durable than anything you are likely to come across or create on your own. It won't burn or melt and it helps keep your temperature regulated. It is truly great, just a bit thicker than normal fabric but very soft."

"Can I have a cape?" Chloe smiled as she bounced.

"Sure but we are all getting hoods. Do you want a skirt or leggings and a tunic?"

"Skirt." Justin inserted. Chloe playfully slapped at him and Cyrus chuckled at them. Clark found his eyes drawn back to Lex who he caught watching him as well. He couldn't help but blush at the older man before smiling and turning back to his new friends and Chloe.

"Well either way I will come up with a few different ideas for each of you and you can pick from them. I personally am going all black with an El house blue cape that reaches the floor and a blue El house symbol over the left side of my chest. It is going to be majestic." he nodded firmly. He had done the vibrant primary color scheme before and honestly he just didn't want to deal with the comments this time around.

"Aright, can I have royal blue and white? That seems appropriately doctor-ish." Chloe questioned.

"I want crimson and gray." Cyrus offered.

"Sign me up for red and black if its available. And I totally want a cape, and no sleeves." Justin nodded firmly before breaking into a smile.

"Alright guys we shall see. Now who is doing what this afternoon?"

"I have no plans, can I go to your fortress today and start the learning program?"

"Do you have a very heavy winter coat and a warm hat and gloves?" He questioned.

"Yep." she chirped. Justin and Lex nodded as well but Cyrus said no.

"That's cool Cy, I have one that might fit you. You are more my size than Clark's." Justin joked.

"alright everyone go get winter gear and be back here in half an hour. We will be there for around four hours so I will get a few thermoses full of hot chocolate and a couple of good blankets. It will only take about an hour for the fortress to reach comfortable levels for humans temperature wise but you are still going to find it odd."

With that warning they split up again and Clark went to tell his parents the plan and get his mom to make hot chocolate. He gathered the three heavy duty sleeping bags from the attic and also made quick sketches of the outfits he had in mind for each of them, including one for Lex, even though he hadn't decided to accept Clark and therefore to accept the genetic upgrades.

Clark knew that eventually Lex would give in and it would change his world when he did. He just had to be patient.

Lex got back to the farm first and he had changed from his designer wear into warm designer wear. The slacks were high end high thread count wool and the sweater was still cashmere but it was thicker and he could see an undershirt plus the long wool coat Clark remembered. He had a fur cap and warm gloves in one hand and a picnic basket in the other.

"I had my housekeeper prepare a few snacks for us, I hope you don't mind." he lifted the basket to call attention to it.

"That is fine, the more the merrier."

"I have thought over your offer Clark." Lex admitted, an earnest expression on his handsome face.

"And what are your thoughts Lex?"

"You said I was the president. I want that, I want that even now to learn it is possible is amazing but how would the public take a gay candidate?" his tone was pleading.

"The same way they did the first time. Lex when you ran your opponents drug up every bit of your past which by then also included antagonizing Superman and building a death ray. An easily defeated death ray mind you, but a death ray none the less. They covered your drug abuse and your underage drinking and partying. They covered your rather extensive sexual past, including the fact that you are openly bi-sexual. They covered all of the arrests and felony charges, of which there were plenty and they even covered your beliefs in religion. Believe me if America voted that man into the White House, they will easily vote in the co-owner of the largest and most environmentally friendly company in the world. A dedicated family man and a man who exposed his own father because it was the right thing to do."

Lex looked pensive but quickly wiped his expression as they heard two cars pulling up. One Chloe's and the other Justin and Cyrus.

Clark and Lex met them outside and they loaded into the Lex's Land Rover which he had switched to when he went to change. Chloe had brought another couple of blankets and Justin had grabbed a couple of floor cushions. It took about twenty minutes to make it to the caves and Clark led them through to the chamber and with a flick he inserted the key and they were off, landing in the fortress.

"Greetings Kal El. Who are the humans you have brought with you?" the AI of his father asked.

"Hello Jor El. This is Lex Luthor, Chloe Sullivan, Justin Gaines and Cyrus my new foster brother. I need the inside of the fortress raised to human levels. Sixty degrees Fahrenheit should be sufficient."

There was a hum sound as the lights grew brighter and a thin sheet of crystal closed over the entrance to protect them from the elements. Four throne like chairs made of crystal raised out of the solid ground into a circle and a low table sat in the center. While Lex directed the others to set up the blankets on the cold crystal chairs and he sat out the snacks he brought and the drinks, Clark moved over to the main console and input what he needed for the AI to do. A touch screen interface pad popped out for him to be able to track just what the AI was teaching Chloe and a section of the wall moved for a knowledge chamber.

"The chamber is heated to seventy degrees Fahrenheit and the sensors are now calibrated to Chloe Sullivans mental signature. If you would escort her to the chamber Kal, we can begin."

Clark smiled at Chloe who looked excited and nauseous at the same time. He helped her shed her coat and shoes and helped her into the small chamber.

"If you need a break simply call for it to stop and the AI will pause it for you. You are perfectly safe Chlo'." he smiled at her before triggering the closing of the chamber. He watched with the others as a light overtook her and lifted her into the air and holographic images zoomed past her at astonishing rates. He knew she was keeping up, the AI was assisting her in integration and understanding of what she was learning so he moved back off to the console.

With a few commands Jor-El's AI took their measurements and Clark scanned his ideas for each of them. For his it was solid black with a royal blue cape that would drag about an inch on the ground when he walked but would look amazing while he was flying. Maybe it was vain of him but well if he looked good to the public they would back him and his team better. This time he added a deep hood and a small eye mask. The hood was connected to the cloak and had a very thin organic frame that when activated would keep the hood up no mater what.

For Chloe's outfit he gave her white breeches and white flat knee high boots in the same royal blue as his cloak. Her top was a form fitting tunic with hood that reached the middle of her thighs and was the same blue as well. The hood had a white inner lining and the eye mask was white as well. Over where her left breast was the word Watchtower and the JLA symbol under it.

For Cyrus he had a knee length coat with hood that buttoned up the right side of the chest and had the JLA symbol on the left side of the chest with a space for his name. The coat was crimson and the breeches were gray with crimson flat knee high boots. It, like Chloe's outfit, had long sleeves.

Justin's outfit was like Clark's, tight breeches and form fitting top with a cape with a hood, but his cape only fell to his knees. It was in red and black but Clark made a back up mock design that he liked better for Justin. It was like the Green Arrow's original outfit, just not leather and longer. The vest was tunic length and well fitted with a hood and he had breeches and boots as well. It was sleeveless like he wanted and in his chosen colors.

He showed Justin the options and Justin liked the one Clark had thought of best, asking if he could have it navy blue and gray instead and Clark switched the colors. Cyrus just requested his breeches and jacket also have an undershirt a place to store small incidentals.

"I need to keep an energy bar or two in case of a big emergency where a lot of people need healing. I also want a small weapon, just in case."

"What about a shock baton. It isn't deadly, only enough to stun but it will take out anyone coming after you. It will be about the size of a pencil in width and length but you can snap it open in seconds and it will collapse just as quickly. You can keep it in your boot. I was planning on one for Chloe anyways and I think you could use it too."

"Alright, that works for me. A gun would be easier probably but if the baton folds up small it will be easier to carry and conceal. Where do you get them, cause I haven't heard of them?"

"You wouldn't have they are Kryptonian tech. They are the advanced version of police batons and stun guns in one. There should be several of them here and they will be easy enough to make more."

"I want tranq darts. I can do them with my powers once I practice more, but having them will make subduing bad guys easier." Justin demanded.

"Alright that is easy enough."

"Well you gave Chloe a name what about me and Justin?" Cyrus asked.

"I thing Cyrus should be Doctor. Just Doctor." Lex stated with a smirk.

"It is appropriately mysterious." Justin laughed as Cyrus chucked a cookie at him while laughing.

"Alright, if I'm Doctor they you are Mental."

Clark and Lex looked at each other smirking. "I like it Justin. I mean you have a mental power after all." Clark chuckled.

"I can deal with it." he nodded.

"Alright guys so what about setting up tech and communications?" Lex asked.

"Well I am pretty good with systems and if we get good computers and a few extra parts I can build us some excellent machines. I am hoping Batman will help us with satellite access because I know he has some. Communicators can be built into the voice modulators Jor-El will be adding into our suits. He can handle that and they will clip over the ear and sit inside like a single headphone."

"I can get exact measurements of each of your ears for a more specific fit to ensure comfort or I can fabricate several in a variety of sizes for each of you to have constant access to." Jor-El sounded out from around him as a holograph formed of him near the console.

"I think specific fabrications for each of us and a few sets of emergency comm's just in case something happens to our personal ones. How is Chloe doing in her training?"

"The human girl is remarkably intelligent and sees patterns quickly and easily. She has a mind for such work. She is forty minutes ahead of schedule for the training parameters and when finished should be able to handle anything you can ask of her including hacking and programming better than any other human on Earth. She will likely surpass you my son." Jor-El informed him.

"I knew she could do it. Chloe is brilliant." Clark informed them all.

He let Jor-El bring up information on Krypton for the other three to peruse while he worked at ensuring the next day would bring the results he wanted. As he planned the law offices he decided to use had gotten the 'notice' of his location as the lost heir to his 'parents' fortune. There were several e-mails about them contacting him and the latest one was of a senior partner booking a flight to Metropolis. It was not necessarily good of him but it wasn't bad either so he didn't bother feeling guilty. The search for the JSA was about half way complete and Jor El had contact numbers for Carter Hall and Sylvester Pemburton.

He knew Dr Fate, or Kent Nelson, would be in Carter's care and the others he didn't know. Star girl was too young to be involved yet. She was only about 12 now so she wasn't an issue. Sand Man and Black Canary were both also found but most of the others were marked as dead. There were three Jor El simply couldn't find so Clark let him stop. While the others were busy he had Jor El set up a phone signal for him that was untraceable and would not allow the phone taps of Carter's phone to register and he slipped on the communicator and gave the other man a call.

"Carter Hall." was the gruff answer after three rings. Clark spoke calmly with the modifier active.

'Hawkman, it is wonderful to hear you well."

"Who is this?" Carter demanded harshly.

"A friend. I am rather of the Green Lantern variety, but a different race. My name is Kal El and I wish to speak with you about joining a new team."

"Well Kal, I don't know you and Lantern left when we were prosecuted. The JSA was a fools dream, Checkmate made sure of that."

"Checkmate is easily handled and Lantern will be back soon enough, or well he will be back to choose a new earth based Green Lantern. Mr Hall I am calling because I have a group of extrodinarily gifted young people with no training but with raw ability. They have gifts that can make a difference and I want you to help them. Even if you simply agree to train them and refuse to join us I would still appreciate your help."

"I would love to help you kid but I have to take care of Nelson, and if you know about me then you know about him."

"You are of course speaking of Dr Fates madness. I believe I can help your friend. He will never regain full capacity but I can at least make him functioning with only mild anti-psychotics instead of the level of deranged delusion he currently suffers."

"And let me guess your help is contingent on mine?" Carters voice was full of venom.

"Of course not Hawkman. I will help Nelson whether you help us or not. No one should suffer such atrocities if it can be helped. Checkmate has prevented him from receiving professional treatment before now but as I mentioned earlier, they aren't much of an issue yet. We will deal with them when they become one."

"How can you help him?" the gruff man questioned after a few moments.

"Two of our number are healers. They are gifted with the ability to heal any physical damage. Part of Nelson's madness is due to a chemical imbalance cause by the helmet, the other half is caused by seeing things the human mind simply isn't able to comprehend. The chemical imbalance is curable the other is not. Like I said we can help him but we can not fix him."

"And how do I get him to you?"

"You do not. We will come to you Carter. You may call in Canary and the Star Spangled Kid, which is a ridiculous name by the way seeing as he is so old now, and set up a time for you sometime this coming week. It would be better in the evening for us."

"Can you swing Tuesday?"

"I can. I will be bringing a group with me. Just to warn you."

"Then I will gather my group. You know where my museum is?"

"Yes."

"Well Kal, see you then." with a click the call ended.

"Jor El begin fabricating those suits please I need them by Tuesday."

"Very well Kal."

Clark wondered over to where Lex was reading the male birth formula. The bald billionaire had a list of questions on a crystal pad next to him and equations to convert the serum for human compatibility.

"This is beautiful work Clark. Who ever designed this to begin with was a master of genetics and gene therapy. To be able to trigger this type of cell modification without triggering the growth of cancerous cells must have taken decades of work. I am looking at a miracle." Lex was enthusiastic to put it mildly.

"Yes you are. You even have the conversion to human all figured out already. It took me a couple of weeks and you have had twenty minutes." he laughed.

Lex flushed with a pleased glow at the praise. Clark checked his pad to see how Chloe was doing. She only had about ten minutes left before she was finished and her vitals and bio-rhythms indicated she was pleased with herself and her work. Justin was reading about the different types of animals on Krypton and Cyrus was studying anatomy from school, getting ahead.

"Whats up Cy?"

The smaller boy looked up at him, blinking owlishly before registering the question.

"Oh I decided if I am going to be a healer for the JLA then a medical degree would be good. Even if its only a nursing degree it is good money and I can help people without them knowing." he smiled.

"That is a really good idea. Just let me know if you want help studying." he offered.

The alert went off as Chloe moved out of the chamber and Clark poured her a drink before directing her to the restroom. She came back out with a smile before she started talking.

"So with four desktop computers with high processing speeds and systems that I can butcher along with extra storage and screens and I can hook us into Nasa's satellite system without detection. It will let me create a piggy-back relay which means that we can be hooked up into their main frame but be invisible to them and our comm and information routes will be set. It will also allow me to track this Checkmate group and keep an eye out for any government interference."

"I can get you what you need and we can upgrade the basics with Jor -El's help and some Kryptonian tech. The comm's can be modified to run on any system we just have to sync them to the system. You will have what you need by next week but for now we have to do every thing the old fashioned way, by word of mouth."

Lex laughed while Chloe stuck her tongue out at him. Clark pulled up his idea for her outfit and she agreed so the AI began fabricating it as well, informing him they would all be ready the next day with two more sets each by Friday.

"So I contacted the person who I want to train you, to add to what I am going to teach you."

"What did they say?" Justin asked. He was the most interested in personal training.

"He has a friend that needs help. Nelson needs a healer. I informed him we could help Nelson and while we were doing so he could meet the rest of us. I want us to go in full suits and Lex, as much as I would like you there I need you to sit this one out, at least for now."

"If you think they will help us why are we wearing suits?" Cyrus questioned.

"We are wearing suits and keeping hidden about everything personal because Checkmate still monitors them. I don't want to expose ourselves until I know if its safe. I will fly each of you to the city after school. It will only take me a few minutes to do so and we will go from there to the museum where they will be waiting for us."

"So code names only?" Chloe questioned.

"Yes."

"Well what about this Nelson, how can we help him?" she tilted her head in question.

"Kent Nelson was part of the JSA and he went by the name Dr Fate. His powers came from the Helmet of Nabu which shows several possible futures and physically enhances the wearer while they are wearing it. The only issue is that the human mind is not capable of handling the information overload or the chemicals released by the body to protect itself from the helmet. Every time he used the helmet he grew worse. It started out as mild symptoms, emotional imbalance and that sort of thing before moving on to hallucinations and almost catatonia as his mind was overloaded by the things he had seen. He can not be fully cured, he has seen things no human is capable of fully comprehending, but the chemical imbalance can be fixed leaving him at least functioning instead of totally dependent on others for basic survival."

"That is awful. I will help him even if they won't help us. I get the going crazy thing." Cyrus said self depreciating.

"I am in." Chloe said as well and Justin nodded from where he stood next to her chair.

"Why am I not invited, just wondering?" Lex questioned.

'It's not a bad reason Lex. If Checkmate does move on us while we are there they can not know you are involved. We are just teenagers with no real leverage. Sure they can threaten to ruin us but we could work around that if they tried but you, well they can destroy you and I will not allow that. I would rip Checkmate down to the last person and they couldn't stop me, if they harmed one of us. It is just safer never giving them the chance to bring one of us harm and you are the most vulnerable to them."

"Alright. I had just wondered if it was the Luthor factor." Lex smiled sadly.

"You are not your father Lex. You are already greater than he ever has been or will be. The Luthor factor as you called it is not an issue with us." Clark encouraged sincerely. Like Lex had said he only became his father when Clark had become Jonathan. Clark had no intention of going down that road this time around so Lex wouldn't either.

It was almost six in the evening so they quickly packed everything up and Clark ensured the suits were fabricating along with the comm units before he inserted the key and they were back in the cave. Back at the farm they separated on their way with Clark and Lex being the last ones in the barn once Cyrus headed in the house to get ready for supper.

"I have made my decision." Lex offered suddenly from near the telescope.

"And what have you decided?" Clark asked.

It only took a few moments before Clark felt it, the bond. It was like tendrils of light wrapping around and through him. It was warm and comforting to feel the second bit of consciousness in the back of his mind, the emotions small and almost unnoticeable, but there none the less. He watched Lex's eyes go wide as he undoubtedly felt it as well and the look of wide eyed wonder brought a smile to his lips.

"This is what human relationships are missing and until they truly know themselves they will continue to miss it. There are a few who hold a similar bond but because they do not know how to access it, they can not appreciate it fully."

"This is amazing. I had no idea it would be like this. Did you know."

"I knew logically but I had never before felt it obviously. Would you like to start your physical enhancements. It will take a couple of months to fully evolve but we can start it now."

"How do we do that?" Lex questioned.

"Like this." Clark bit into his tongue hard enough to cause it to bleed and moved to kiss Lex. He licked his lip to get some of the blood on in intending it to be a mildly chaste kiss but Lex quickly dominated it and slipped his tongue in Clark's mouth to trace the contours of his lips, tongue and teeth.

The cut healed as quickly as all his wounds so there was only a few more drops of blood and Lex got them all while Clark was treated to a kiss more fantastic than anything he had ever felt before. He could have cursed his teenage hormones as he felt himself go rock hard and his eyes heat up. He pulled back to catch his breath and huff out a laugh as he rubbed his eyes.

"Do you have something in your eyes?" Lex sounded shaken, out of breath and off balance in a way Clark had never heard. He couldn't help but giggle embarrassingly at the question.

"No, nothing so simple. I spent years in full control of my gifts and body and yet being a teenager again has set me back so far its embarrassing. One of my gifts is heat vision. It is hot enough to start fires and melt metal but when I originally triggered it in my last life it was tied to my hormones. I eventually got a handle on it and could control it at will but being back in my younger body it seems to be triggered by my hormones again. I almost started a fire which is the equivalent of coming in my pants." he giggled again and Lex choked on his laughter as well once he caught on.

"I am sorry about that, even though it is mildly flattering. I make you so hot you can start fires." he chuckled again.

"Yeah yeah, laugh it up." Clark groused playfully.

"I think I will." Lex offered haughtily before smirking.

"Well while we are alone have you spoken to our dark guardian?"

"Yes actually. My very good friend Bruce is coming to visit me Tuesday and staying until the weekend to check out my banishment. I haven't told him the full truth and I won't until he gets here but You can come over once you are done dealing with the JSA or you can wait until Wednesday."

"We shall see. It depends on how long the meeting takes. I don't think it should be more than an hour because there will be no training, just a meeting of the minds and a negotiation. Plus the healing as much as possible for Nelson."

"Well you can call and let me know or just stop by. I tend to stay up late."

"Alright. Tomorrow I will be dealing with the lawyers for my inheritance. It should take most of the afternoon, plus my parents will be dealing with the case worker and getting Cyrus fully moved in so I likely won't be able to see you unless you come here."

"I can do that. I might be stopping by your school tomorrow. I think a donation to the local High School in my name, not my fathers, will bring me a bit of good will from the local populous."

"What are you going to donate?" Clark questioned.

"I was thinking of new computers and a high end printer for the school news paper. Of course a few other things such as a small refrigerator stocked with the newest high-end water and a few other comforts will be included as well just for extravagance." Lex smirked, sliding his hands into his slacks pockets.

"That is mildly sneaky Mr Luthor. I approve." he stood as Lex did.

Lex moved to the stairs and Clark followed him.

"Well sneaky or not I intend to do so. I need to get back home to the castle so I will leave you for the night. Do you have my cell number?" he asked as they stopped at his car.

"Yes I have it memorized. Don't worry Lex if I need you I will call."

"Alright. I know you are getting your inheritance.." he made finger quotes with a sarcastic expression. "tomorrow, but will you be getting a cell phone or get our comm's soon. I feel odd to be leaving you without instant access to you." Lex admitted softly.

"I understand the feeling Lex, believe me. You are more vulnerable than me and I worry constantly but I have to trust if you need me you will scream. Just yell Kal as loudly as you can as many times as it takes and I will come running."

"Alright. Just have a good day tomorrow."

"You too Lex." Clark touched Lex's hand softly, just a brush of fingers before with a smile he turned and headed into the house.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary:** Clark watches the last person who truly knew him, Lex Luthor, finally die. Alone and adrift immortality looms ahead of him and he wonders why he must go it alone. Jor-el says it is because he turned against his soul holder or soul mate as humans would say. Turns out Lex wasn't meant to be his enemy but his lover. Clark is given the chance to go back and try again from the very beginning. Can he change the way things happened, can he truly give himself to the one man who could easily break him or will old insecurities hold him locked into a future he doesn't truly want.

**Warnings:** Male/male slash, strong language, less restrained Clark, murder, and spoilers.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing but the plot, though I am sure someone has done something similar at least once before.

**Chapter Seven**

The first half of School Monday was boring but at lunch time the rumors were already flying. The police had shown up to speak to Principle Kwan and the secretary spread the news about the principles son having been driving his car and hitting Justin. There were also rumors about Justin's miraculous recovery and the edition of the Torch was out as well with the front page a glaring headline about the scarecrow tradition and a picture of the students on their crosses in their underwear.

It was beautiful.

The biggest piece of gossip was of The Lex Luthor arriving with a truck full of supplies and workers and disappearing into the Torch office with the school superintendent. The big news wasn't the thousands of dollars of donation to make the Torch more capable than the Smallville Gazette, but the confrontation between the football coach and the superintendent about how those funds should go to the football team. The spontaneous fire caused three burns from spectators before Lex, in a brilliantly captured image from Chloe's camera, put out the fire with an extinguisher.

The coach was burned so badly he was being retired early and he would spend the next few months in a burn unit while the other two burns were only minor and while the two healers obviously wanted to act they held back.

Lex stopped long enough to give Chloe and Clark a short interview about the donation and he ran his fingers over the back of Clark's hand in a hidden intimate gesture. After lunch Cyrus was pulled from school by his caseworker but Clark listened enough to hear that the boy was being given to the elder Kents. After school he hurried to the farm where a very nice black town car with a driver was waiting.

He was a bit surprised by what he found in the house. Cyrus was outside in the loft and the lawyer from Banks and Masters was at their table but so was William Clark, his mom's father. His parents were there as well and his father looked uncomfortable.

"Hey mom, dad, I'm home. Cy said you needed me in here." he made it a question, hinting for his parents to play along.

"Yes Clark come here, there are two men you need to meet." his mother motioned to him. "This is my father William Clark, and this is an associate of his Ian Banks. They came here to discuss some things with you."

Clark nodded to both men before kissing his moms cheek as he moved past her to sit between his parents.

"Hello, I am Clark. How can I help you?" he feigned confusion.

"Hello Clark. I am Ian Banks as your mother said. I work as a lawyer and my office and I deal mainly with high end clients and their affairs. I understand that you were adopted some years ago after the tragedy that struck Smallville."

"Yes I was. The adoption was uncontested and the authorities said they assumed my birth parents had either died in the meteor shower or abandoned me just before it. Why are you here." he allowed uncertainty to color his voice.

"Well yes. I am here to tell you that they were killed in the shower. Your parents were clients of my office and their names were Lara and Jacob Eliot. You were named Kallen Eliot and due to their deaths you are the sole beneficiary of their estate."

"When you say estate do you mean property or finances?"

"Finances. Upon notice of their death their personal property was sold and the balance was given to their estate. Unfortunately you were only found recently. Upon finding you we at Banks and Masters moved immediately to rectify these matters. Your birth parents Will did not specify an age limit upon you receiving the inheritance so it is all coming to you now. While that is unusual it has happened and we at Banks and Masters would be willing to continue to oversee your accounts until you come of age or because of your close adopted familial ties we can transfer care of the account to your grandfather Mr Clark."

Clark didn't try to hide his surprise though he wasn't surprised for the reason they thought. The first time around William Clark was already dead when he first needed to inherit anything as Clark Kent. This passing of the torch was odd but it could just be a professional courtesy between friends. The real issue was in the wording. Oversee your accounts. It seemed like they didn't want a teenager with access to five million and signing whatever papers they had would likely put it into a trust for him under his 'Grandfathers' command. Yeah that wasn't happening.

"Just how big is this estate that I would need someone else to look after it?" he questioned, wondering if they would tell him. Clark Sr. shifted facial expressions quickly before settling back on neutral while Mr Banks obviously didn't want to answer but he finally did.

"The account is for five point two million and some change."

"That is enough to pay of the mortgage on the farm and cover any college I want to go to. I won't have to wait until after college to start my company." he played at excited teenager.

"What company?" William Clark asked gruffly.

"Oh a friend and I are going to create a company with a few designs and ideas we have for clean Eco-friendly energy. With our design we should be able to replace fossil fuels and nuclear reactors world wide in under ten years. Not to mention the formulas for vaccines and genetic defects he already has partway designed. We are going to be billionaires by the time we are thirty but with this money we can be before I am twenty." He played up his pried while the two lawyers looked at him with shock.

"So you want the money to pay off debt and make more money, not for cars and toys and things." Banks clarified.

"Well when I get my license I will get a car, but I would have done that anyways. The fortune just means I can get what I want instead of what I can afford but other than that why should I spend this on something stupid and useless when if I do it correctly I can have a whole lot more to spend stupidly in a year or two." he made his best duh face, like they were the stupid ones.

Clark Sr looked him over approvingly.

"Well that is all well and good Clark, but having a finance lawyer will make things run more smoothly for any board of directors or investors." Clark Sr said.

"I am not going to have investors. If I allow others to put money into my company then I have to take their words into account. I already know exactly where I want my company to go and how I want it run. I have no need of some money hungry bureaucrat telling what I can or cannot do with my own company. It is going to be privately owned."

"That is very difficult for any company to operate as privately owned. The government and other companies have an easier time of pushing them out of the markets." Mr Banks warned.

"Well they can try but honestly my tech is a minimum of fifty years ahead of anyone else and some things that we have workable ideas for are though of as impossible so no one else would even bother working on. Believe me it is going to take decades before anyone can even hope to match me. The government and everyone else be damned. Besides I have a meeting with Bruce Wayne this week to discuss their backing us for a government committee. I was going to sell Wayne Tech one of my designs for start-up funds but with this money I can just partner with him on this patent instead."

"You have been in contact with Bruce Wayne?" William Clark questioned sharply.

"No my business partner and co-founder of Rao Industries has. He will be here in Smallville tomorrow."

"And who is your business partner?" He questioned.

"Lex Luthor. He want's away from his tyrant of a father and he wants to be able to focus on the science instead of the business end."

"You know Lex Luthor? William Clark questioned dubiously. Clark opened his mouth to answer when he heard a welcomed sound. Lex's Porsche coming up the lane.

"I saved his life a few days ago. I had planned to do everything myself before then but when he heard my plans he offered to help finance if he could be a partner and he offered to make the introductions that I would need."

"How did you save his life?" Bank's questioned. One reason Clark and the JLA had used Banks and Masters was because of their hatred of Lional Luthor, which had passed onto Lex once the elder was dead. Obviously the hatred was already in place if the face he was making was any clue.

"One of the hauler trucks from the foundry had some loose wire bales and one fell off the truck. Lex wasn't expecting it and he hit the wire bale and his car flew off Leob Bridge. I was walking home and was right there so I dove in after him. He had knocked himself unconscious in the crash and had already breathed in water by the time I got him out. Without CPR he would have died and stayed dead."

"Who would have died?" Lex questioned as he knocked on the screen door in the kitchen.

"You. I was telling the lawyer about your crash. What brings you by Lex?" Clark questioned as he moved to open the door and let the bald man inside.

"Oh I was coming to tell you that Bruce is going to be arriving tonight instead of tomorrow. In a couple hours he will be at the castle. I came to see if you wanted to join us for dinner?" Lex offered, looking the other two men over curiously. He obviously recognized William Clark but the other man wasn't someone known to him.

"Oh right, Lex meet my grandfather William Clark and a colleague of his Ian Banks. They are here to discuss an inheritance left to me by my biological parents."

"Well welcome to Smallville gentlemen. Clark if you are busy I can just call later." Lex offered motioning to the door.

"Non-sense Lex. They just want me to sign some papers. Once I am done with them I can shower really quick and just ride back with you if you are willing to wait." Clark motioned him to the table.

"Clark are you certain, this is big information to share." his father warned.

"I know, but Lex will know it all later anyways. I will need to show what I can bring to the table for Wayne Tech to be interested in a business deal so Lex would need to know before then. Besides he can look over these papers to ensure I am not missing anything." Clark smirked. It wasn't very nice and he knew Banks and the elder Clark caught the message.

It only took a few minutes and some waffling before the contract was passed to him and Clark began looking it over. As he suspected if he signed it he would be putting control of his account into William Clarks hands until he was twenty-five.

"I thought you said my birth parents didn't put and age minimum on my inheritance?" he questioned.

"Well they didn't but having someone to answer to would be better to prevent you from overspending until you were of an appropriate age to recognize the repercussions."

"I don't need someone else to control my finances. If anyone did it would be my parents, not a man I have never met before and who disowned my mom because she fell in love." Clark made no issue about giving them both droll stares.

"I had my reasons." William said smoothly.

"Well they weren't reasons I can get behind. Take it from someone who would know, family isn't blood its those you choose. My mom didn't do exactly what you wanted and you made your choice to not be family. Now where is the real paperwork because I am not signing this farce."

Banks sighed and tried to convince him for a few minutes more before handing over a much more basic contract. There were two of them. One leaving Banks and Masters as his lawyers but with no control over him or his finances and one leaving William Clark in the same position.

"Mr Clark are you willing to deal with me and your daughter or should I remain with Banks and Masters even though they are stationed so far away?" he questioned.

"I am willing to take the retainer for you. I have no issue dealing with Martha." he sounded old at that. Obviously it had been a while since anyone had opposed him.

Clark nodded and signed the contract that put his grandfather on retainer. Banks handed him a packet which had his account numbers and check books and bank card. It was all in his name and he made a mental note to have them reissued with his mothers name as well. Apparently his account was already active so he wouldn't have to go about setting that up. He would have the farm payed off and every tab on the farm payed off the next day. He knew it was about two hundred thousand dollars of debt so it wouldn't make much of a dent in anything.

He spoke after checking everything over.

"I want to purchase the Luthor fertilizer factory form Luthor Corp. Lex assures me it has been deep in the red for three years. It is a drain on Luthor Corp and Lionel should be willing to part with it for one and a half million because its only worth about one million and he will only sell it if he thinks he is screwing me over. I want to put an offer for one and a half for the buildings and lands. If he refuses I will go up a bit but the location and facilities are honestly ideal. I could build myself for about the same price but I honestly want Lionel's influence out of Smallville."

"I can draw up papers for the offer. How soon do you want to make it?"

"By Friday if you can. I have a negotiator in mind I just need the contracts on paper and a meeting set up for then if you can get the old bastard to agree."

"I can get him to Smallville Clark. You just need the paperwork." Lex offered.

"Alright. I can have the paperwork for you Wednesday baring any unforeseen issues. Should I deliver it here?" the older man questioned.

"If you come in the evening you can bring mom and join us for supper." his mom offered cautiously, obviously uncertain if she would be well received.

Clark watched the older man debate with himself silently before he spoke.

"Your mother would enjoy that very much. We can be here for supper at six on Wednesday. Is that acceptable?"

"That is fine with us. We will be waiting." his mom smiled widely, beautifully.

Lex stood with him while he shook both of their hands and watched them leave. Cyrus came in after the car was gone and Clark zipped around the farm finishing the last two chores he had before hurrying to shower and change.

He slipped on another pair dark wash close fitting jeans and a simple white hanes t-shirt and his only pair of tennis shoes. Lex was waiting in the kitchen with his parents and Cyrus and he gave his goodbyes as they headed to the castle in the corn. The sleek sports car Bruce had driven was waiting in the front circle drive and Bruce himself was in Lex's office library.

"Alexander, your late. I thought you had forgotten me.. oh Hello." the dark haired dark guardian said as he turned to face them when they entered. He hadn't been expecting Clark.

Clark took a moment to check the office for bugs and seeing only a small listening device he moved to it and with both older men watching he pulled it from under the desk. It was a Luthor Corp model and he easily crushed it in front of them both before nodding to Lex.

"Well you are certainly strong aren't you." Bruce said quietly, the look in his eyes calculating.

"Clark is very strong. Clark this is Bruce Wayne, Bruce this is Clark Kent. Now anyone want a drink?" the bald headed older man questioned as he moved to his bar.

"Do you have any juice Lex?" Clark asked as he moved to sit on the couch, ignoring Bruce's presence completely.

"I have an organic apple cider from your mother. Is that alright?"

"Yes. I love moms cider." Clark grinned and reached for the glass Lex poured him. The bald millionaire offered it to Bruce too and he accepted a glass of the drink as well.

"This is really very good Lex. You said Clark's mom made and sold it?"

"Yes. We own an organic farm and we grow apples as part of our crops. My mom makes barrels full of this stuff each year and we sell out within just a couple of weeks. She just made it so if you want some to take back to Gotham you should speak with her tomorrow." Clark finished his glass and set it down on his coaster as Lex moved to sit next to him and Bruce sat across from them.

"I will do that. Alfred will love this stuff."

"I will let her know." Clark smiled his superman smile, he knew Batman hated that smile.

"So Alex, why exactly did you call me to come visit?"

Lex looked sideways at Clark who took the lead.

"Lex wanted to visit with you but I would like to visit with Batman." Clark stated as he sat up strait.

He watched the mask fall into place expertly as Bruce slouched almost imperceptibly, but enough to make a difference.

"Well I'm not sure why you think I can help with that. Everyone knows Batman is just an urban legend."

"Really Bruce?" Clark arched an eyebrow.

"I am not sure where you think you are going with this boy." Bruce turned hard almost instantly. Gone was the affable clueless billionaire and in his place was Batman.

"Not anywhere bad. I want to offer you a place among a team I am putting together. The Justice League of America. Most of us are gifted in some way and while we are all young we want to learn and help. I am capable on my own, I know several fighting styles and if all else fails I am faster than a speeding bullet and stronger than any other being or machine on Earth. The others are all earth teens gifted with extraordinary abilities. Soon enough others like them will be discovered and called Metahumans. I can't physically train then because anyone throwing a punch in my direction is going to break their hand but I have a couple of people lined up to help them learn. Joining the JLA will give you backup if you need it as well as a solid information source and gadgets and tools not available on Earth."

"You keep saying Earth as though you aren't from here." Bruce pointed out, still tense.

"That is because he isn't Bruce. I am sure you remember the meteor shower in Kansas years ago, how they spoke about it being the detritus of a planet?"

"I remember."

"That was Clark's planet. He says it was called Krypton and he comes with some very damning evidence including a spaceship and an alien fortress with technology centuries beyond anything we are even close to." Lex sat forward, his hands folded together in between his knees.

"Are you here for some sort of invasion?" Bruce questioned sharply.

"No. I mean absolutely no harm to Earth or her people. To be honest until about a week ago I thought I was human with just a little extra. There was a type of genetic memory download that my father created to help me understand myself and my people. The download triggered about a week ago and here I am now. I am moving fast because Earth is my home and I want to help her. Soon enough other races and other worlds are going to turn their eyes to Earth for trading and knowledge and even for mating if they wish. Earth is not yet ready but when we help her get that way with the tech that I have and am able to replicate then the world will be safer for it. Without being part of the Galactic force we cant call on them for aide if another hostile planet decides to invade. There are other hostile races and Earth is rich in resources and people. If someone like Black Zero decided to invade I am not sure that even the JLA all together along with the military could fight them off."

"So you want to prepare us for war or sell all of our natural resources to other races?" he bit out.

"No, neither. You need to understand that almost every other race and planet in the Galactic Alliance has moved past the usage of fossil fuels and the destruction of natural resources. The only ones who haven't are those like Earth who haven't had contact with the other races or those who are violent. I want to be able to trade things like apples for some pianna which is similar to corn but has protein and grows in desert areas. With a few crops of pianna we could end child hunger in the world. There are foods on earth that other races don't have and foods on other worlds that you can't even imagine. Not to mention medicine. Penicillin is an earthly creation but there are twenty three known races that are similar enough to humans and Kryptonians that they could use it in its basic form or learn from us how to cultivate it and modify it for their own uses. There was a serum created by a Kryptonian scientist which can modify and alter the male body to allow a man to conceive and carry his and his partners children. Lex already has the formula and has modified for the human form. You are probably going to distrust me for a very long time but I promise that I am not a danger to you."

"You said nothing about war." The dark haired hero pointed out.

"That is because it is a non-issue I hope. I can not say for certain that no one will ever try to invade but I can say that I will fight with earth if they do. As for the learning to fight, well that is because as I am sure you have noticed, the bad guys are getting stronger and more advanced. The police can hardly keep up as it is. Some Meta's, just like basic humans are going to decide the law doesn't apply to them. I am creating the JLA to take on these advanced opponents but also to help in natural disasters and man made ones as well. Imagine there is a mud slide that destroys a village and there are hundreds of people burried under massive amounts of sludge and broken buildings. It would take rescue workers days and even weeks to uncover it all and many who could have been saved would be lost due to starvation or wounds. Now you have me, I have x-ray vision and super-hearing. I can see through the mud to find them in seconds and direct the rescue teams to them and another of the JLA is telekinetic, he can't lift it all at once but he can lift maybe a car sized glob of mud at a time out of the rescuers way. Two of our others can heal with a touch, they can heal almost anything, even mortal wounds so long as they catch it in time. So a disaster that could have killed hundreds now only kills a few dozen. That is what I want to do, that is what I want the JLA for."

"That sounds noble enough. What happens when one of your own goes rogue?"

"Then we stop them and figure out why. See if they can be redeemed or put them away where they can't hurt anyone."

"You mentioned a serum and tech, how do you plan to get that out there?"

Clark turned to Lex who spoke.

"Rao Industires will be opperational within the month hopefully. The leading company in green technology and practices in the world. Clark and I are going to modify everything and produce it for the world including engines that run on sound and light and medicine to save lives. There is a machine he told me about that is like a giant air filter but it pulls every toxic from the air getting rid of pollutions and helping to heal the damage done to the ozone. One in each major city in the world and our ozone will be healed completely in five years. All the smog and acid rain and putrid ground water gone with a little work."

"Is it truly possible?" Bruce questioned, his mind moving to the possibilities.

"I saw the schematics at the fortress. It isn't only possible but easily doable. Think about it no more oil drilling which means no oil spills, no burning coal or destroying the forests and rain forests. Bruce this is the future. One hundred years from no when cancer is all but cured and the world knows about all of this they are going to say wow that Lex Luthor and Clark Kent changed the world. Don't you want them saying your name as well. Even if it is just applying to Wayne Tech."

"So do you want my company involved?"

"Only if you want it. We don't need resources but I figured you would like to join in on a few patents. You can clean up Gotham with this tech. Help your city."

"It sounds doable I suppose. Are you sure you don't need financed?"

"No with Clark and with my inheritance we are fine. What we want is just your political backing for Rao and in exchange we will let you pick two or three patents for you to share. Plus we want you to buy one of the Atmosphere correcters for Gotham. We will give you a big discount because to be frank Gotham needs it. With Wayne Tech deciding to purchase one for Gotham several others will purchase them for their cities as well. Within a month the proportionate number of smoggy, acid rain days over Gotham should be cut in half and within six months the air should be clean and the machine will begin sucking the toxins from around the city."

"And what discount will I get?"

"A free water system. It does the same thing as the air you just put in in Gotham's main water treatment plant and within six months the water in and around Gotham will be completely toxin free."

"I think I want the water treatment patent as one of the ones I can share." Bruce said casually.

Clark smiled at that. Bruce was in.

"And what of the JLA?"

"That depends are any of them trained in self defense of any kind?"

"I think Chloe knows a little but its mainly girl fighting stomp the toes knee them in the jewels and gouge their eyes. The basic rape defense."

"Well it could be worse I suppose. Who do you have in mind to train them?"

"Well I intend for Hawkman and the JSA to help get them in shape."

"What is the JSA?" Bruce questioned.

"The JSA was active about fifteen years ago and they were the Justice Society of America. They stopped criminals both petty and metahuman. A government agency called Checkmate decided they wanted to control the JSA and they tried to. The JSA refused and fought back and so Checkmate framed them and brought them all up on false charges. Checkmate will try with us but I have my AI finding out every one of their operatives and their families. When they come for us I have enough to discourage them, to bring them to their knees."

"You intend to hurt their families?"

"No. I don't hurt innocents. But there are more than fifteen unoccupied islands and remote places that are uncharted and that I can remove their families to until they comply. They don't have to know their families are safe, just that they are missing."

"That is dangerous thinking."

"Not really. I can stop them a few different ways. I can post everything about Checkmate and their actions online along with their agent files or I can simply threaten them into backing off. Either way they will not be an issue."

"I would rather expose them. Threatening their families sounds like something they would do, I would rather not be involved with that. They could actually charge us with that and win." Bruce pointed out calmly.

"Very well I will have information packets prepared for every major news network and newspaper in the world. If they approach us we will take them down peacefully."

"Alright. Now this Hawkman, do you think he is good enough?"

"He isn't as good as you, like me he has the ability to simply power through most things, but he isn't as strong as I am and there are a couple of others from the JSA that I think would do very good jobs. Of course if Batman would like to join in and help train the children then I am certain they could learn faster and be a bit better."

"When are you meeting for the first session?"

"We are meeting just to meet tomorrow. Hawkman and the others will decide if they will help then. You are welcome to join us."

"Where are you meeting?"

"Metropolis. At Carter Hall's museum."

"What time?"

"At six in the evening. I will be running the others to Metropolis after we all go to my fortress and change into our new costumes. Lex will have his comm if he needs us and to help monitor things while we are there."

"Lex is one of the JL?" Bruce thurned to the bald millionaire.

"I am not a hero, not yet. Mostly I will work for Rao and making sure that is handled."

"Understandable. I can show up for the meeting but I don't want them knowing who I am." he glared at Clark for a moment.

"That is your decision. Now It is getting late and I need to make it to the fortress tonight and get everyone's suits and comm's. Are you two coming or staying?"

"I am coming. We need to get started fabricating the crystals for the prototypes and get those built along with the machines we will use for Rao. Plus there was a file about a fertilizer that could help plants grow twice the amount of produce that I wanted to look at." Lex stood.

"I would like to see this fortress of yours." Bruce stood as well.

"Alright Lex if you will drive him I am going to get the key and I will meet you there."

"Alright Clark, I should only take about ten minutes from here. We will see you there."

Clark smiled softly and kissed Lex chastely before speeding away. He heard Bruce exclaim about how fast he was as he went.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary:** Clark watches the last person who truly knew him, Lex Luthor, finally die. Alone and adrift immortality looms ahead of him and he wonders why he must go it alone. Jor-el says it is because he turned against his soul holder or soul mate as humans would say. Turns out Lex wasn't meant to be his enemy but his lover. Clark is given the chance to go back and try again from the very beginning. Can he change the way things happened, can he truly give himself to the one man who could easily break him or will old insecurities hold him locked into a future he doesn't truly want.

**Warnings:** Male/male slash, strong language, less restrained Clark, murder, and spoilers.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing but the plot, though I am sure someone has done something similar at least once before.

**Authors Note**: So sorry about the wait, got distracted as usual. ADHD is killer guys, my muse works on its own time. Will try to get another chapter out soon though.

**_Chapter Eight_**

School on Tuesday was interesting.

Chloe, Justin and Cyrus were all very excited. They also all had their comm's in. The comm's didn't look like electronics or regular microphone/speaker combo's. They honestly looked like decorative metal ear cuffs. They were thin and shaped to each ear to fit perfectly. A single touch in the right spot turned them on and tapped you into the open channel or with another touch into a private channel with watchtower and the AI. They could have the AI connect them privately to someone other than Watchtower if they needed to speak with them and each comm had a tracker just in case.

They were cool looking and through out the day he kept being contacted by the others during their free periods but the most important moment was Chloe contacting him that Tina Greer was in the Torch office. Clark left his study period easily because there wasn't a teacher and made his way to the Torch where both girls were speaking.

"Blue can help with that. The symptoms will clear within a couple hours. Cyrus was having the same problem and Justin was as well. Here have a bottle." he walked in to see Chloe passing a chilled bottle of Blue to the shapeshifter.

"Hey Chlo', whats up?"

"Hey Clark. Tina is taking some Blue. She caught the add in the paper and came for help. It seems she has noticed increasing irrationality."

"Well its good she came for help. Have you found Alicia yet?"

"Yes actually. She is homeschooling according to her parents. It started after an incident last year with her boyfriend being stabbed. Its a cold case, the police can't figure out how anyone got to him in his locked bedroom. Her parents removed her from school after his death."

"Well it seems like this weekend we have more to do. Go ahead and deliver a gift basket with a few bottles of Blue and some other things in it for her. A note informing her parents of what Blue will do should be enough for them to give it to her."

"What are you talking about?"

"The imbalance caused by the kryptonite has already driven a few others to commit crimes. Alicia committed murder and has all but lost her mind. She is a teleporter but she can be locked in by lead. Her parents have her locked in a lead room in their house to prevent her from hurting anyone else."

"You are serious. Wow. So what can you do Clark?"

"A lot more than you." he answered plainly. He smiled at Chloe and handed her twenty dollars so she could put the gift basket together and after making sure she would be at his place after school and that Tina drank her water he nodded to them both and headed back to class.

After school he and Cyrus headed back to the farm and Clark told his new brother and parents about the plans for the evening.

It was four before everyone arrived, with Bruce having informed him the night before he would just meet them there. Clark led the others to the loft of the barn and then brought out the tech his AI had given him. They were wrist cuffs made of white gold for each of them and with the uniforms stored in them.

"If you trace this design" he pointed out a curly tribal type design "then the outfit you are wearing will be replaced instantly with your uniform. Do not use it in front of people." he warned and traced his design to show them.

He hadn't used the tech in his first life because he had not wanted to wear jewelry until he was older. His determination to hide his sexual preference had filled every corner of his life and he had allowed it to prevent things which would have actually made his life easier. Now he knew logically that the cuffs were not in any way girly, they were actually really neat looking so instead of making himself uncomfortable with multiple layers of clothing he could simply switch with the cuff.

At his speed his clothes were replaced with his new uniform and the others couldn't even see the change it was so fast. He stood there fully changed with the new hood up covering his features and his body framed in the tight fabric.

"That is so cool." Chloe squealed and activated hers. The hooded tunic and leggings framed her well. Tightly fitting and showing her curves attractively. The others followed suite and soon all four were dressed in their new uniforms. Clark smiled and with only his lips visible it was perhaps a bit scary before with a warning he grabbed Cyrus and Justin and took off at full flying speed to Metropolis, dropping them at a park just down the road from where they needed to be and heading back for Chloe. She whooped during the flight and sighed dramatically when he set her down by the others.

"Oh man Kal El, that was awesome. You will have to take me again sometime." she smiled brightly as they all activated their comm's and the voice changer to help hide their identities. Clark led the way down a nearby alley and a block over before leading them the back way into the museum. They moved silently behind him and he was actually proud of them with how good at this they were. He knew Chloe could sneak because of her reporter training but he wasn't sure why Justin and Cy were so good.

He felt before he saw the body moving toward him swiftly in attack mode and he caught them, them being Canary, before she could do any damage to herself. He twisted her quickly and forced her head down towards the floor just in case she decided to scream and watched as Justin sent the Star Spangled kid flying back with a wave of his hand and Chloe and Cyrus were caught by Hawkman.

"Well this wasn't exactly the greeting we had in mind Hawkman, mind letting my healers go."

He kept Canary still with a single large hand and motioned to Justin who had floated the Kid's staff to himself.

"I wouldn't fuck with that Mental, its tied to him and messing with it without training is a bad idea."

"Got it Kal." he nodded slowly lowering the staff to the floor.

"Who are you?" Canary bit out from where she couldn't move as Sylvester Pemberton stood slowly from where he had been thrown.

"I am Kal El. The one capable of moving things with his mind is known as Mental. The two Hawkman is holding are Doc and Watchtower. We will not be giving you our real names or even voices until the Checkmate is handled. They still watch you."

"And I am Batman." a voice growled as the dark knight moved into the room silently.

"I thought you were a legend and based in Gotham." Hawkman growled.

"I am based in Gotham, but I am also a member of the Justice League. Let the two healers go." he growled out again. Moving to stand by Clark.

Clark watched as Hawkman looked them over, judging them before releasing the two teens and when he did Clark released Canary.

"So you two" he gestured to the two he had just let go "are the ones who can help Fate?" he questioned.

"Yes. Is he here?" Chloe answered.

Hawkman nodded and led the way to the main meeting room where Kent Nelson was rocking in his chair and holding the helmet, whispering to it.

"Can you really help him?" he growled out the question. Both Chloe and Cyrus moved towards the disturbed man while Justin, Clark and Batman stood next to each other. The JSA stood together nearer to Nelson.

"If he can be helped they are the ones that can do so." Justin informed them.

"Kal." Chloe called from near the mad man. "Can you come hold him down, I don't think he is going to react favorably to us healing him."

Clark moved swiftly and had Nelson wrapping his arms around himself and had his legs holding the humans down tightly without hurting him. It was called a basket hold and it worked very well especially with his strength as the slighter man began to fight. Chloe and Cyrus moved quickly, lighting up their hands and holding them to Nelson's head for a few minutes before moving them along his body. Nelson had stopped fighting after a minute and so their work was easier. It took five minutes all together before they relaxed back and Clark let the slighter human man go and moved back to his friends.

Kent nelson stood slowly and looked around the room and then back down at his hands before once more looking at them. He turned his eyes from his team to Clark's and focused on the two healers before speaking.

"I don't know what you did but I feel more myself than I have in years. Thank you."

Cyrus spoke then. "You are not completely sane Mr Nelson. You have seen things no human mind is capable of processing. You are always going to have insomnia, confusion and dejavu. I think with an anti-psychotic and a mild sedative to help you sleep you should be able to at least function. I doubt you will ever hold a job without help but at least you can feed and bathe yourself. If you get a helper you should be fine as long as you don't use the helmet again."

"I can handle that. Thank you again." he nodded before moving towards his friends.

Hawkman looked him over and looked into his eyes before smiling and clapping Nelson on the back. He turned to them.

"So you want training?" he questioned. Clark grinned.

…..

The next few days passed quickly. Clark got the paperwork from Mr Clark and had an awkward dinner with his mothers parents. He payed off the farm and his parents debt and met up with Kyle Tippet, the man who could convince others with a touch of his hand, and spoke with him about the plant and what he wanted to do. He didn't go into explicit detail but as the man was an environmentalist he agreed by the next afternoon to handle the negotiations with Lionel Luthor. Clark and Lex got him a new suit and helped him clean up and Lex spoke to him privately as well.

"What was that about?" he questioned as they left.

"I wanted to ensure father couldn't kick me out of the mansion. I am going to trade him part of my Luthor Corp shares for the castle to be put in my name only. That way I can stay in Smallville and he can't come into our place just anytime he wants. I got Kyle to agree to 'convince' him to the trade. It is fair so I am not cheating him out of anything." Lex assured.

"You said our." Clark pointed out calmly. Lex glanced at him sideways.

"I did. You already said what is yours is mine. I thought I should return the favor. This way you have a safe place and your friends can come over if they need to. There is a huge space in the basement which has been used for storage that I am having converted into an open gym. You all can practice down there and there will be no chance of anyone walking in."

Clark smiled brightly. Thursday Lex contacted them all through their communicators about having bought the theater from Nell. Clark grinned at that and after school and homework they all headed to the castle to brush up on what all would be happening over the next couple of weeks.

Batman was already gone as was his alter ego Bruce Wayne but there was a video conference set up in the office with him on the screen. They spoke about Rao and about Blue. Four others had come for a bottle since the first day and Clark was very pleased with that.

The next day was the meeting with Lionel and Kyle had already gone over the paperwork and familiarized himself with it. He knew he could offer up to a quarter million more before using his gift because Lionel would try everything he could to screw them over and if he didn't succeed then someone would get suspicious. Kyle also took the time to warn them all about Bob Rickman.

Clark took over from there and pulled up a list of the dangerous meteor mutants who were using their power for bad and hurting people with it. One of which was Desiree.

"The AI has come up with a serum which will cancel out their powers. The only issue is that in using it the green K in their system will turn to poison. They will go from gifted to cancerous. They could beat the cancer or we could heal them so they can answer for their crimes but I am not sure you two would be willing to heal them once you learn what all they have done." he offered to Chloe and Cy.

"I may not approve of what they have done but K cancer can't be cured by chemo. If we don't cure them they will die. But they will likely get the death penalty for their actions anyways. I don't have a problem curing them but only if I know we have proof to make them pay for their crimes." Cy offered. Clark was pleased the boy was becoming more confident.

"I agree. As Watchtower I can find proof but if I can't then I say we don't cure them." Chloe said calmly. Everyone agreed with that assessment and they moved on. Lex showed them the plans for the remodel.

The lobby would again be the coffee shop but the apartment up above would be Watchtowers base and the actual theater room would be refurbished and would show a new movie a week. The basement which had never been used before would be cleaned out and used for storage and a storm shelter for main street.

"That should give you a tax break." Clark smiled.

"I don't need it but it will give me good will from the town council and that I do need." Lex agreed.

"Is everything ready for the meeting with my father tomorrow?" Lex questioned.

"I have all of the papers and Kyle has agreed to handle the negotiations. With having given the board of LuthorCorp the information through a leak your father won't be able to refuse the offer especially since the Smallville plant is a drain on finances. We are as ready as can be."

"Alright he will be here at five tomorrow evening for the meeting. He already called and told me he might be relocating me. He has no idea I am in on it." Lex smirked.

They stopped not long after with agreements to meet Saturday at the farmers market to discuss the shift in plant operation. The next day after school Clark got ready for the meeting and headed to the castle. The meeting was taking place there instead of at the plant so that Lionel could impress upon Clark his power. He honestly didn't know exactly who was making the offer yet but he would soon. The butler met Clark at the door and led him to Lex's office where Kyle, Lex and Lionel were all waiting.

Lionel was obviously surprised but he hid it well.

"Welcome, lets get down to business. Though aren't you a bit young to be handling this amount of money and wanting to own a company."

"I am old enough for my parents will to allow me what I want. I want your plant because its close enough to home to not require a move for me. I could build and steal all of your workers but its easier to just buy the plant already made."

"Well I think your offer is weak. One million five is simply not enough." The elder Luthor said confidently.

"Mr Luthor, we know for a fact that the Smallville plant is costing Luthor Corp money. It is so far in the red that your board of investors will lock you out of your own company if you reject our offer. We already have that on very good authority." Kyle smirked causing Lionel to falter. He hadn't expected them to have any knowledge of his company.

"Be that as it may, I am sure you can understand the need to recoup our losses. I won't sell for less than two million."

Kyle looked over at him to make sure and Clark nodded before Kyle brought out the modified papers. They had already been prepared for it which again caused Lionel to falter.

"Sign the documents and the money transfer will be completed immediately to the account of your choice." Kyle stated calmly. Obviously Lionel didn't want to give up his plant but he had been out maneuvered. He signed the papers and when they shook on it Kyle had him sign the papers on the castle as well for Lex.

The wire transfer went through immediately and after realizing he had given the castle to Lex, meaning Lex was leaving him he stormed out after snarling at his son. It hadn't even taken an hour before they set down to celebrate.

The next week went by quickly with the plant closing and the equipment being taken by Luthorcorp. Lionel had his men take everything that wasn't bolted down in a fit of childishness but Clark only laughed because he made cleanup easier. The new equipment was fabricated in pieces by the fortress and they had it trucked in, hiring back the plant workers one at a time to put it together and train on it. The plant had previously had two hundred workers but they hired an extra hundred to operate the machines and run the new employee daycare. The county tried to fine them for the modified solar panels because they would be loosing the huge payment from the factory for their power bills but they couldn't legally do anything.

During the time to set up the factory Clark had to stop the bug kid from eating Lana while not getting noticed by Lana. That was fun. Not.

He and the others spent the month to the re-opening and the public launching of the new atmosphere cleaners, training religiously. Chloe and Cyrus both trained with Batman while Justin spent time with Hawkman and Alecia, after being made sane, trained with Black Canary. She had started back to school and joined their group quickly.

Clark did get noticed by Lana and was surprised when She started seeking him out. Apparently all he had even needed to do to get her was to not want her. Whitney had tried to intimidate him, confronting him in the middle of the lunch room.

"Kent, I hear you have been talking to Lana." the blond sneered.

Clark looked up from his conversation with Cyrus to see the jock and his group of friends.

"She asked me about Chemistry. Apparently She needs a tutor and the teacher suggested me. Why?" he replied calmly.

"I just want you to stay away from my girl. I have noticed how its been lately." the boy sneered, towering over Clark who was sitting. Clark, tired from it already stood, smirking at being an inch taller. He usually slouched so standing to his full height caused the others to take second glances.

"Look Whitney, I don't care about your high school drama. If I wanted Lana I would have asked her out already. I don't want your girlfriend, in point of fact I don't want a girl friend at all. I am gay. Now, if there is nothing else I was having a conversation with a friend, do you mind." he arched an eyebrow before turning back to his seat while Whitney and his group stuttered for a minute before hurrying off and the school cafeteria had burst into whispers of shock and glee.

That had led to Chloe doing an expose on gay teenagers in the bible belt and the failings of the system to prevent discrimination about it. The article had gotten picked up by the Daily Planet which had put his blond friend in a tizzy. Her coffee addiction had soared but with the Talon opening She had gladly switched coffee houses and even posted the article about the failed health board ratings from the Beanery.

When the announcement about a new company introducing breakthrough new technology was broken to the news they had no idea only that Bruce Wayne would be meeting with the companies owners and the Gotham City Council in a private meeting to discuss purchasing two piece of life changing tech for their city, the news media went wild. No one knew what it was about except for Clark, Lex, and Bruce but the meeting was schedualed and a press conference was scheduled for afterward.

Wednesday, a month and a half after waking up in the past Clark and Lex took a Wayne Corp helicopter from Smallville to Gotham with the two air purifiers and one water treatment machine. They had already been paid for, were already going to be used, but now it was time for the city and the world to know about them. Smallville already had two of each, though they didn't know it. Lex and Clark were both in hand tailored suits that cost more than Clark cared to remember and his Mom was in a very smart business suit as well as their PA. Lex would be claiming major design of the machine while Clark was suposedly the one who had come up with the basics. RAO was their company and thi was the day the world would see it.

The helicopter landed on Wayne Tower and they met Bruce and then took a limo seven blocks away to the City Council chambers in City Hall. The reporters were different, less tabloid and more business section but still there were cameras and microphones and recorders shoved in their faces as they made their way through the throng and inside. The City Council had already been gathered and they were waiting.

"What is this about Wayne?" the Mayor questioned once they were all sitting.

"Mr Mayor, may I introduce Lex Luthor and Clark Kent, the minds behind the inventions and frankly the future. They have just recently started a company called RAO industries and I will let them take over from here and explain just how what they have made can help Gotham." he sat. Lex looked at Clark before standing.

"As you were just informed I am Lex Luthor. I know for a fact it has been all over the news about my split with my father and Luthor Corp and what I am about to show you is why. A little over a month ago I met Clark. Clark had several brilliant ideas but two of the best were the purification systems. They both needed work, which is where I came in but seeing the validty of them I gladly put in the work and Clark and I created RAO. RAO's main purpose is green energy and practices on a global scale. We want to revolutionize the world and completely break away from damaging and wasteful fossil fuel usage and we want to repair the damage already done to Earth and the atmosphere. The purification systems are two ways to do this. May I introduce to you the A.F.S. Atmosphere filtration system and the W.F.S. The water filtration system."

Martha moved to them each, handing out basic schematics that only told what they did not how, along with pictures.

"Gotham is well known as the city of clouds, not because of elevation or beauty but because the smog cloud that resides over your city poisoning the air and ground. Your people are sick and can not even see the sun most days. You have acid rain and your water itself has so many polutants your sickness and cancer rates are at an all time high. With the new systems, which have already been graciously purchased by Mr Wayne for Gotham, your smog cloud will be gone in a month. In six months your air will be clean and purified as though there isn't a city here. The water system in your main processing plant will cycle about seventy percent of the water in the city and removing all contaminants within that water in four months. To completely clean your city you will of course need two more systems but what Mr Wayne has already bought will have Gotham clean and inviting within six months. This is the future gentlemen and Gotham, baring Smallville where RAO is currently located, you will be the first to use the devices. They best part is each system is solar powered and have a two month store all ready to use. Before that is out you will already have sunny days and the systems recharge ten times as fast as any other solar system on the market."

"Is it dangerous in any way?"

"There are absolutely no emissions." Clark smiled at the woman who had asked. "The systems are to clean the atmosphere and the air, not just replace them with something worse."

"You said the systems Mr Wayne already bought will clean about 70% of the city. How much are they in case the city decides we wish to pay for more of them?"

"Well your A.F.S. Systems are enough for your city but you have three water plants and Mr Wayne only purchase a W.F.S for the largest plant. You would need two more W.F.S. To completely clean your city and they run higher because they are more complex. They are around two million each but there is no maintenance needed for twenty years and they come automatically with a warranty in case of natural disaster and the twenty year check-up will cover it again for another twenty years. The twenty year check up is just to change the solar panels really and has a hundred year coverage. After that the city of course will have to pay for the solar panels which won't be more than a hundred thousand."

"That is fairly high priced." one council member sneered.

"Not considering what it can and will do for your city and people, not to mention the world. This is for us today, yes, but more importantly it is for our future children and grandchildren. RAO wants to make the whole planet green tech and sustainable energy. Our goal is to heal the damage done and to prevent any further from occurring. Test your water and air over the next few months, I guarantee within a month from installation you will see a noticeable difference, within six you will be back to purchase the other two systems." Lex sat back comfortably while Clark nodded in agreement.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the council, even if you choose not to buy more of the tech, I have already purchased these and one system is already waiting on top of Wayne Enterprises to be turned on. The other A.F.S. And the W.F.S. Simply need to be installed. I have personally gone over every bit of these machines and assure you they are safe and easy. Let me have them installed and if in six months there isn't a difference they can be removed." Bruce offered.

"But where would they be placed?"

"The W.F.S would be placed in the Gotham water treatment plant, on the exiting pipe and the other air system I would suggest be placed across the narrows where the smog is thickest, on top of Bedlam." Bruce offered.

It took another hour with Lex showing the tests of the Smallville water and air over the last month, taken daily and showing improvement every day in twenty different locations, before they agreed and Bruce had his men, led by Lucius Fox, take the machines to their new homes and turn them on. The good thing was once they were turned on they couldn't be turned off unless they were literally blown up.

Clark stood, smiling with Lex as they spoke with Bruce.

"Once the press conference airs about Gotham accepting the tech we have over a hundred people waiting by the phones at RAO anticipating questions. They all know what they can say and with the designs patented for every single piece and the full product no one can touch us. I give it a week before we have five more orders minimum."

"How many do you have stored back?" Bruce asked.

"Twenty each. They aren't easy to make but the sale of these three have covered the total cost off all the supplies we have used since opening plus our workers pay and a bit more. Selling five more will double every cent we have spent on this venture so far." Clark smiled as his mother approached them and straightened their suits and his and Bruce's hair.

"The group is ready to head out to face the press, remember, smile and speak clearly." She fussed at them.

Clark grinned and kissed her cheek, Lex doing the same while Bruce grinned at them and the three led the way outside. Bruce spoke first covering his purchase of the machines for Gotham, Lex covered RAO and the basic science, explaining that Clark, who smiled and waved at them all, had come up with the basic ideas that Lex had expounded on and then Clark spoke a few words about being raised by organic farmers and learning about helping the world from then.

"I had honestly not thought anyone would take my ideas seriously but when I showed Lex what I already had he took them and hit the ground running. RAO is about making the word impossible obsolete and welcoming the future gladly. This world isn't just ours, its our childrens. RAO also has several scientists working on medical miracles and other technology that is going to change life as we know it. We hope you, as people, will stand with us in finding better ways to do things. Thank you." he smiled as he stood straight.

He knew, standing with Lex Luthor and Bruce Wayne, they were a sight. The picture was going to be magnificent. Bruce led them to his home for lunch after turning over the press conference which had included a huge projector screen which showed the activation of the system on top of the Wayne building. You couldn't see much, but a few lights to show it was working and there wasn't any noise but it got several oo's and ahh's.

Alfred was gracious and Lucius Fox joined them for dinner as well, speaking business with Lex because Clark was speaking with Bruce about joining him for patrol one night. The flight back to Smallville was quick and Lex was very happy once they got back to find that there was already an order for two separate A.F.S machines and one water system. They had made back every cent they had spent and then some. It was amazing. Clark gladly joined Lex for some pool while his mother headed home and some light making out once She was gone. Lex was a whole inch taller he noticed, only two to go before he matched Clark and only one to match Bruce.

The news had the press conference and they watched it and he was right, they made a striking picture together.


End file.
